Philosophy
Just about everyone has some idea about what platonic love is: a spiritual form of love in which what one loves is the essential nature and moral character of another human being qua person, irrespective of such accidental features as physical attractiveness, wealth, skin complexion, youth, body type or even sex or gender.
In Plato's famous dialogue Symposium, Socrates claims that one of the deepest lesson he ever learned on the nature of love he learned from the wise Diotima, who argued that our infatuation with physical beauty, if approached properly, could represent the first step in a process that could lead to some of the most important revelations about the relationship between the beautiful, the good and the true.
I highly recommend you read the Symposium, but just to whet your appetite about this theme, here's a little animated introduction to some of these ideas, thanks to a great and recent collaboration between the BBC and the Open University.
Now, in the Symposium there are various memorable speeches about love, quite heavy on symbolism sometimes, and some of which presuppose some previous understanding and familiarity with Plato's theory of the Forms. If you want a nice, thoughtful introduction to many of those ideas, and to how they all fit in with Plato's larger metaphysical account, the following interview from Entitled Opinions, should be pure intellectual delight:
- Love Conquers All -- Even Ethics?
Relationships at work can be a tricky business, especially if one of the partners is directly above the other in the company's hierarchy. Ethical complications arise for two reasons: (1) there are serious questions about misuse of power and (2) there...
- (b) ?plato Does Not Value Experience Enough.? Discuss. (10 Marks)
A time limit of 15 mins was given for this. The key questions are whether Plato does undervalue experience and whether he is correct in assuming this. In one sense Plato appears correct in his assessment that the physical world cannot give us answers...
- Birth In Beauty
Wednesday night I participated in a session of deep spiritual sharing. I came home and naturally tuned in to comments on the Presidential debate, which had just taken place. A person needs to keep abreast of events, right? Well, in one way, yes; in another...
- ?is There A Good Or ?best? Order In Which To Read The Dialogues Of Plato?
Socrates and Plato ? Bite Size Chunks ? No. 4 (Posted by James Head - Autumn 2011) Someone recently asked the following question on a Face book Group:'I have been itching to really read the dialogues of Plato. And I finished ?Alcibiades I? last night;...
- Platonic Love...in Case You Didn't Know
"What's Plato Got To Do With It?" The origins of the term platonic friendship. by Juliet Lapidos September 27th, 2010 Slate There's a "strictly platonic" category on Craigslist filled with personal ads that belong under a racier section heading...
Philosophy
Diotima's Ladder - From Lust to Morality
In Plato's famous dialogue Symposium, Socrates claims that one of the deepest lesson he ever learned on the nature of love he learned from the wise Diotima, who argued that our infatuation with physical beauty, if approached properly, could represent the first step in a process that could lead to some of the most important revelations about the relationship between the beautiful, the good and the true.
I highly recommend you read the Symposium, but just to whet your appetite about this theme, here's a little animated introduction to some of these ideas, thanks to a great and recent collaboration between the BBC and the Open University.
Now, in the Symposium there are various memorable speeches about love, quite heavy on symbolism sometimes, and some of which presuppose some previous understanding and familiarity with Plato's theory of the Forms. If you want a nice, thoughtful introduction to many of those ideas, and to how they all fit in with Plato's larger metaphysical account, the following interview from Entitled Opinions, should be pure intellectual delight:
- Love Conquers All -- Even Ethics?
Relationships at work can be a tricky business, especially if one of the partners is directly above the other in the company's hierarchy. Ethical complications arise for two reasons: (1) there are serious questions about misuse of power and (2) there...
- (b) ?plato Does Not Value Experience Enough.? Discuss. (10 Marks)
A time limit of 15 mins was given for this. The key questions are whether Plato does undervalue experience and whether he is correct in assuming this. In one sense Plato appears correct in his assessment that the physical world cannot give us answers...
- Birth In Beauty
Wednesday night I participated in a session of deep spiritual sharing. I came home and naturally tuned in to comments on the Presidential debate, which had just taken place. A person needs to keep abreast of events, right? Well, in one way, yes; in another...
- ?is There A Good Or ?best? Order In Which To Read The Dialogues Of Plato?
Socrates and Plato ? Bite Size Chunks ? No. 4 (Posted by James Head - Autumn 2011) Someone recently asked the following question on a Face book Group:'I have been itching to really read the dialogues of Plato. And I finished ?Alcibiades I? last night;...
- Platonic Love...in Case You Didn't Know
"What's Plato Got To Do With It?" The origins of the term platonic friendship. by Juliet Lapidos September 27th, 2010 Slate There's a "strictly platonic" category on Craigslist filled with personal ads that belong under a racier section heading...