Plato''s Erotic World - From Cosmic Origins to Human Death

"Plato,Äôs entire fictive world is permeated with philosophical concern for eros, well beyond the so-called erotic dialogues. Several metaphysical, epistemological, and cosmological conversations ,Äì Timaeus, Cratylus, Parmenides, Theaetetus, and Phaedo ,Äì 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 ,Äúerotic dialogues,Äù and demonstrates that Plato,Äôsworld 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"--

List of contents

Introduction; 1. Cosmos; 2. Questioning; 3. Courage; 4. Matchmaking; 5. Self-knowledge; 6. Memory.

About the author

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).

Product details

• Authors: Jill Gordon, Jill (Colby College Gordon, Gordon Jill
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.11.2014
• EAN: 9781107423572
• ISBN: 978-1-107-42357-2
• No. of pages: 254
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: antiquity to present day; PHILOSOPHY / Epistemology, PHILOSOPHY / Metaphysics, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology, Classical history / classical civilisation, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500, Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge