Speaker discusses sexual promises

Hallie Liberto, a Laurance S. Rockefeller visiting fellow at Princeton University, University of Connecticut assistant professor of philosophy and sister to Spencer Liberto ’15, presented her research on “Sexual Promises” in Steiner 106 on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 4:15 p.m. According to Liberto, while other philosophers have conducted research on the morality of breaking promises, sexual promises are inherently different in nature. She began by dividing sexual promises into two categories: positive sexual promises, such as “Jane promises to have sex with John if his team wins the homecoming game” and negative sexual promises, such as “If Jane marries John, she promises not to have sex with anyone else.” Liberto further discussed the morality of breaking promises about sex and people, in comparison with promises about objects: “I promise to give you this book if you give me your watch,” for example. She argued that breaking promises surrounding sex are more understandable and less objectionable because of the inherently emotionally and physically invasive nature of sex.