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Quotes from Incest: A Rational Look at the Oldest Taboo — Elizabeth Janeway

1913–2005 United States

← All quotes by Elizabeth Janeway

3 quotes

Growing up human is uniquely a matter of social relations rather than biology. What we learn from connections within the family takes the place of instincts that program the behavior of animals; which raises the question, how good are these connections?

Incest: A Rational Look at the Oldest Taboo (1981)

Philosophically, incest asks a fundamental question of our shifting mores: not simply what is normal and what is deviant, but whether such a thing as deviance exists at all in human relationships if they seem satisfactory to those who share them.

Incest: A Rational Look at the Oldest Taboo (1981)

I am not sure how many "sins" I would recognize in the world. Some would surely be defused by changed circumstances. But I can imagine none that is more irredeemably siinful than the betrayal, the exploitation, of the young by those who should care for them.

Incest: A Rational Look at the Oldest Taboo (1981)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Elizabeth Janeway (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.