Note 1 — INTRODUCTION

There is no word that occurs more frequently in this book than sinnlich, or the noun derived from it, Sinnlichkeit. Throughout, the former is rendered by “sensual,” the latter by “sensuality.” Neither of these words has here the connotation that is ordinarily attached to it: “Sensual” means nothing more than relating to the senses; and “Sensuality” is the noun form and means nothing more than the composite result of our being “sensual.” We have, as a matter of fact, five “senses.” The German for “sense” is Sinn. Consequently, sinnlich has reference to our capacity for sensations, our sensibility. The words might have been translated in a variety of ways. I might have commandeered such terms as “sentient,” “sensory,” “susceptible to sense experiences,” and so on. Such variety would have been, probably, in the interest of seeming erudition, which leaves me cold, or in the interest of pedagogy which, so long as I remain normal, no man can ever persuade me to study. —Translator.