Introduction one of the most influential traditions of love in the western world is platonism. Faced with the difficult task of discerning plato s true ideas from the contradictory voices he used to express them. Jan 08, 2020 40 famous philosophical quotes by plato on love, politics, knowledge and power updated. After 12 years of traveling and gaining knowledge, plato returned to greece where he founded the academy, the first organized school in western civilization. John armstrongs top 10 books on love books the guardian.
He was a student of socrates and later taught aristotle. Whats fascinating is his awareness of the very complex dynamic between love of money and love of honour. It depicts a friendly contest of extemporaneous speeches given by a group of notable men attending a banquet. Many people associate plato with a few central doctrines that are advocated in his writings. The world that appears to our senses is in some way defective and filled with error, but there is a more real and perfect realm, populated by entities called forms or ideas that are eternal, changeless, and in some sense paradigmatic for the structure and. Jun 23, 2012 plato on true love platos account of true love is still the most subtle and beautiful there is.
Ancient greek philosopher plato founded the academy and is the author of philosophical works of unparalleled influence in western thought. An innovative and insightful exploration of the passionate early life of socrates and the influences that led him to become the first and greatest of philosophers socrates. Buy a cheap copy of the trial and death of socrates book by plato. As a philosopher, i am always amazed how platos account. What is the nature of the philosopher in the republic. This article focuses on the idea that plato weaves around the emotion of love. Here socrates embarks on the task of explaining who the real philosopher is. Skye c cleary is a philosopher, the author of existentialism and romantic love palgrave macmillan, 2015 and the coeditor of how to live a good life vintage, 2019. Plato was a wrestler, and dicaearchus went so far as to say that plato wrestled at the isthmian games. Here are 20 profound plato quotes on life, love and human behavior. So says aristophanes in his fantastical account of the origins of love in plato. Plato s dialogue in the symposium, which has as its topic the subject of love, explores the idea of love as a means of ascent to contemplation of the divine. The best plato books choosen by plato expert, professor melissa lane.
See the additional sources and recommended reading list below, or check the philosophy books page for a full list. Ambrose believed that plato met jeremiah in egypt and was influenced by his ideas. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. I do not think most people would give this answer but there is a special place in my heart for the symposium. Fearing their power, zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves. Republic 473cd plato describes these philosopher kings as those who love the sight of truth republic 475c and supports the idea with the analogy of a captain and his ship or a doctor and his medicine. It was influential in the roman empire and was revived in european political thought. Love is such a central theme in the work of philosophy from the ancients to the present day, but its quite rare for it to be pulled out. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of the republic and what it means. He wrote on a wide variety of topics including politics, aesthetics, cosmology, and epistemology. His book, the symposium, is an attempt to explain what love really is. When we come to the republic, book v, we meet with one of the most famous explanations in all of plato, etymological or otherwise 474c.
In book vi of the republic a grocery list of the desirable traits to be found in a philosopher are described by socrates. Platonic love often lowercased as platonic is a type of love, or close relationship, that is nonromantic. Plato was a philosopher during the 5th century bce. In this plato book he describes how the ideal constitution might decay into a regime focused on honour like sparta was at the time or into an oligarchy, or a democracy, or a tyranny. According to greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Reeve, that includes lysis, symposium, phaedo, and a few other works, but this recording only has symposium which is not what i was looking for. Thriftbooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. Plato on friendship and eros stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. In fact, if we read the republic as a defense of the activity of philosophy, as allan bloom suggests, then this might be viewed as the most important claim. For i assume that by knowing the truth you mean knowing things as they really are. As a philosopher, i am always amazed how platos account here, uttered by aristophanes, uncannily evokes our very modern view of love. It is a profoundly moving, beautiful, and wistful account. These dialogues of plato encompass the early beginings of philosophy from arguements of love to arguements of justice and education.
Philosophy and loveintroduces historical and contemporary philosophical reflections on love. It is named after greek philosopher plato, though the philosopher never used the term himself. This is a fabulous collectionthe translations of platos dialogues. According to platos dialogue the symposium, erotic love spurs us toward knowledge in several steps. Plato s teachings are a testament to the fact human behavior hasnt changed much since 2,500 years ago. On the one hand, there is the verb philein and its cognates philia is the noun, philos the adjectivea word we use all the time when we talk about philanthropy, philosophy, philharmonic, and the like. In this section plato makes one of the most important claims of the book. Oct 20, 2014 plato was one of the worlds earliest and possibly greatest philosophers.
The trial and death of socrates 469399 bce have almost as central a place in western consciousness as the trial and death of jesus. Originating with platos writings on love mainly the symposium whose explicit. Platos theory of the ladder of love shows how you can move from a sexfocused vision of love to a love directed towards wisdom, truth and goodness. Eros is the bridge between the physical world and the intelligible, the motivation for the philosophers quest. Ive put together this as a guide to some of the best philosophy books.
His symposium heads off this set of erotic explorations. Love is simply the name for the desire and pursuit of the whole. This student philosopher tells us the story of the book symposium and ultimately the story of platos ladder of love. It tells the story of a dinner party given by agathon, a handsome poet, who invites a group of his friends around to eat, drink and talk about love. In this book, plato writes that the philosopher socrates meets an acquaintance, hippothales. Hippothales is in love with lysis, but is not sure that his beloved loves him. Bringing philosophy together with popular cultural analysis, linnell secomb provides an interesting and engaging account of theories of love throughout history. The symposium is a philosophical text by plato dated c. It brings together philosophy with cultural analysis to provide an accessible and engaging account of conventional theories of love as well as the controversial reformulations evident in samesex desire, crosscultural love and internet romance. Plato, 380bc the philosopher is in love with truth, that is, not with the changing world of sensation, which is the object of opinion, but with the unchanging reality which is the object of knowledge. Greek philosopher 427 bc 347 bc there are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot. Plato on true love plato s account of true love is still the most subtle and beautiful there is. Dont be fooled, however, as philosophy is not just a place for highminded, abstract thinking and hypothetical irrelevancy though theres certainly plenty of that, too.
He came from a political family, but become a philosopher. Plato gives this trippy exegesis to the playwright aristophanes, who appears as a character in the book. Plato discusses love eros and friendship philia primarily in two dialogues, the lysis and the symposium, though the phaedrus also adds significantly to his views. As nietzsche put it in his book of 1882, the gay science. Eros is the bridge between the physical world and the intelligible, the motivation for the philosopher s quest. In addition, the new theory of love and the new ideal of it developed in diotimas speech appear to be platos own equally original advance over socrates philosophy. In each work, socrates as the quintessential philosopher is in two ways center stage, first, as a lover of wisdom sophia and discussion logos, and, second, as himself an inverter or disturber of erotic norms. As plato repeatedly wrote, the essence of philosophy came down to the command to. In short, philia transforms eros from a lust for possession into an impulse for philosophy. Philosophy and love introduces readers to philosophical reflections on love from plato to the present. Two authors a neuropsychologist and a religious studies specialist discuss their joint neuroscientific research into transcendence, selflessness, forgiveness, etc. His writings explored justice, beauty and equality, and also contained discussions in aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, epistemology and the philosophy of. He begins by reminding glaucon that it was agreed that lovers of something love all of it, not one part. One of the features in platos philosophy is the absence of a manifest.
The best books on the philosophy of love, whether romantic, erotic, familial or platonic, as recommended by author and academic skye c cleary. You cant begin a study of world philosophy without talking about these guys. Quotations by plato, greek philosopher, born 427 bc. Plato was a greek philosopher known and recognized for having allowed such a considerable philosophical work the sensible world, according to plato is the world of contingent, contrary to the intelligible world, which contains essences or ideas, intelligible forms, models of all things, saving the phenomena and give them meaning. But the rest of the text books 210 is much more of a monologue in which socrates serves.
Athens streetcorner philosopher socrates was the bigcity philosopher in ancient athens. We personally assess every book s quality and offer rare, outofprint treasures. The big three in greek philosophy much of western philosophy finds its basis in the thoughts and teachings of socrates, plato, and aristotle. The best books on plato five books expert recommendations. In this blog post weve researches all the great philosophers on love, and pulled together the top love quotes by philosophers whether written or spoken. The best philosophy books of all time updated for 2020. Eros and philia are the two greek words, which can be translated as love in english. Right now, you will find 110 classic works on the new list foundational texts written by aristotle, descartes, hegel and kant, not to mention kierkegaard, wittgenstein and nietzsche, too. Aspects of love is an anthology of poetic explorations on the theme of erotic love though one of the poets represented here is better known, even than as a dramatist, as the philosopher, plato. Yes, and its so strange because plato s symposium is one of the most famous philosophy books of all time, and its all about. As i have already shared here and here, it is the first properly philosophical book that i read, and i find that it has determined the d. In this video she goes through the different levels of love that were outlined by plato. The greek philosopher plato was a student of socrates, and teacher of aristotle. There were relatively few books specifically on the philosophy of love.
Browse through our ebooks while discovering great authors and exciting books. I thought it was the plato on love collection of dialogues edited by c. It tells the story of a dinner party given by agathon, a handsome poet. Plato is coming into his own as a philosopher and is starting to develop some of his own metaphysical and epistemological positions. The emotional motivation that sends us looking for the forms, then, is erotic love. For plato, generally, to love other human beings is to direct ones mind to love of divinity. Plato books biography and list of works author of the.
The crazy and charming theory of love in platos symposium. He founded the academy, an academic program which many consider to be the first western university. Platonic love as devised by plato concerns rising through levels of closeness to wisdom and true beauty from carnal attraction to individual bodies to attraction to souls, and eventually, union. Plato was born in athens in 427 bc to a well established aristocratic family. Just wanted to give you a quick heads up that weve recently spun out a collection of free philosophy ebooks from our larger, more diverse collection of 600 free ebooks. Mar 31, 2020 plato, at dions urging, apparently undertook to put into practice the ideal of the philosopherking described in the republic by educating dionysius the younger. His father, ariston, could trace his lineage back to the old kings of athens. Love, plato, romance many men are loved by their enemies, and hated by their friends, and are the friends of their enemies, and the enemies of their friends. January 8, 2020 home quotes lesson for life plato was a philosopher, as well as mathematician, in classical greece. Platos account of true love is still the most subtle and beautiful there is. Written 2,400 years ago, plato s philosophical novella, symposium, includes one of the weirdest and most charming explanations of why people fall in love ever invented. The ideal of a philosopher king was born in platos dialogue republic as part of the vision of a just city. Lysis, symposium, phaedrus, alcibiades, with selections from republic and laws. The word philosophy comes from the greek words for love and wisdom and generally refer to the pursuit of wisdom, moral discipline and knowledge through logic.
Plato is one of the great theorists of relationships. I will admit, the book is not an easy task, so take it slow, and digest the material. Nietzsche at the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. According to plato s dialogue the symposium, erotic love spurs us toward knowledge in several steps. The problem of understanding symposium as a philosophical work is in part a. Platos views on love are a meditation on socrates and the power his philosophical conversations have to. Plato was a philosopher, as well as mathematician, in classical greece. Read online or download philosophy ebooks for free. The best books on philosophy of love five books recommendations. The ideal of a philosopher king was born in plato s dialogue republic as part of the vision of a just city. Much of western philosophy finds its basis in the thoughts and teachings of socrates, plato, and aristotle. The symposium by plato discussion of samesex love at an athenian drinking party. Philosopher king, idea according to which the best form of government is that in which philosophers rule.
Plato on friendship and eros stanford encyclopedia of. Even if you are not a true philosophy at heart, the shear talent of socrates twisting his opponents gives enough warrant to read. Platos teachings are a testament to the fact human behavior hasnt changed much since 2,500 years ago. Actor robin field reads the symposium of ancient greek philosopher plato c. He matters because of his devotion to making humanity more fulfilled. A beginners guide to the philosophy of plato michael s. Whenever possible, i linked to books with my amazon affiliate code, and as an amazon associate i earn from qualifying purchases. Sep 06, 20 the type of love in athens that plato mostly considers is that of older men lovers who are attracted to young men beloveds. Sailing and health are not things that everyone is qualified to practice by nature. Philosophy and love introduces historical and contemporary philosophical reflections on love. Rationality as passion lydia amir i profess to understand nothing but matters of love.