ABSTRACT
The initial aim must be to guarantee to all adults the gratification of their basic sexual appetites and hence the elimination of their anxieties and frustrations. Only then, in Fourier's view, would it be possible for the more noble and sentimental dimension of human love to play its true role. In civilisation physical desire was often confused with sentiment. Thus marriage was commonly presented as a noble relationship, yet the real motivation behind it was predominantly sexual. Such ambiguities could not arise in the Phalanx: everyone would be sexually satisfied, and so truly sentimental ties would be more distinctive and would be valued for what they could offer as a complement to sensuality.
