Plato's erotic world
Subtitle: from cosmic origins to human death
By: Jill Gordon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Cambridge
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9781107024113
Subjects: Philosophy; Erotica; PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical; Love; Ancient Philosophy
Description: "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,♯s̥ 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 ,♯e︢rotic dialogues,♯ ̮and demonstrates that Plato,♯s̥ 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"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Introduction; 1. Cosmos; 2. Questioning; 3. Courage; 4. Matchmaking; 5. Self-knowledge; 6. Memory.