This is a 1905 set of conversations (and maybe a novel? fiction?) with a philosopher who goes by the name of Corydon. The narrator and Corydon have a series of dialogues about homosexuality. In each, while trying to explore the topic thoroughly, Corydon takes on a different academic lens. They begin by discussing the topic within a moral and philosophical framework and begin off by using Walt Whitman’s poetry as a start. They offer the generally held belief that homosexuality is a perversion. So they try to consider Walt Whitman in terms of a syllogism to the degree of if “Homosexuality is a perversion then Walt Whitman is sick” so what if “Walt Whitman is not sick” so….
What they find is that while they might reach various conclusions about the topic, they don’t actually reach any satisfying understanding of a human problem.
So the next dialog they use biology to discuss the topic and realize that what we would call homosexuality occurs in species around the planet and therefore….
And so.
This is a very early book discussing the topic in these 20th century terms and in using Ancient Greek tools and methods, they don’t reach anything more satisfying than Greek likely did. I am not sure they really truly work through any of these issues without any real satisfying conclusion, but it’s an early example of trying to understand the humanity of the situation in human terms, and not working solely on the premise that homosexuality is unnatural and we all agree.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/Corydon-Novel-Andr%C3%A9-Gide/dp/1497679001/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1577284735&sr=8-1)