Plato's Erotic World From Cosmic Origins to Human Death
Langue : Anglais
Auteur : Gordon Jill
This book examines the fundamental importance of Eros in Plato's writing, arguing that he sees the world as erotic from cosmic origins to human death.
Plato's entire fictive world is permeated with philosophical concern for Eros, well beyond the so-called erotic dialogues. Several metaphysical, epistemological and cosmological conversations - Timaeus, Cratylus, Parmenides, Theaetetus and Phaedo - demonstrate that Eros lies at the root of the human condition and that properly guided Eros is the essence of a life well lived. This book presents a holistic vision of Eros, beginning with the presence of Eros at the origin of the cosmos and the human soul, surveying four types of human self-cultivation aimed at good guidance of Eros and concluding with human death as a return to our origins. The book challenges conventional wisdom regarding the 'erotic dialogues' and demonstrates that Plato's world is erotic from beginning to end: the human soul is primordially erotic and the well-cultivated erotic soul can best remember and return to its origins, its lifelong erotic desire.
Introduction; 1. Cosmos; 2. Questioning; 3. Courage; 4. Matchmaking; 5. Self-knowledge; 6. Memory.
Jill Gordon is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Philosophy at Colby College, Maine. She is the author of Turning Toward Philosophy: Literary Device and Dramatic Structure in Plato's Dialogues (1999).
Date de parution : 11-2014
Ouvrage de 254 p.
15.2x22.9 cm
Date de parution : 08-2012
Ouvrage de 254 p.
16x22.9 cm
Thème de Plato's Erotic World :
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