SERIES:Argumentos
For millennia, the human race has mistrusted the strength of its desires and has done everything in its power to control them. The opulent society in which we live has now radically changed that idea. Today, we need to constantly stimulate our desires in order to survive. The economy used to be dictated by demand, producing only what was necessary. Now it is dictated by offer: it creates a need in the public for what it produces. Consequently we suffer a constant anxiety, always having the feeling that we do not have as much as we should. The investigation that takes place in Las arquitecturas del deseo seeks to demonstrate that we are in need of a "theory of desire". What is it? Where does it come from? What determines it? How is it manipulated or taught? Everything can be desired. Pleasure elevates arborescent architectures. When desires are fragmented, so is the human soul and some repair work is necessary. In the end, a new character is born: the soul.
José Antonio Marina was born in 1939 in Toledo and currently lives in Madrid where he is professor of Philosophy. In 1992 he was awarded the Anagrama Essay Prize and the National Essay Prize for his first book Elogio y refutación del ingenio. His definition of essay-writing involves this approach: "To think like a scientist and write like a poet who is also a crime-writer.
