The poverty of Eros in Plato's Symposium / Lorelle D. Lamascus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lamascus, Lorelle D., author.

Series:

Bloomsbury studies in ancient philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plato. Symposium.

Plato.

Symposium (Plato).

Physical Description:

viii, 188 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.

Summary:

The Poverty of Eros in Plato's Symposium offers an innovative new approach towards Eros and the concept of Eros in the Symposium. Lorelle D. Lamascus argues that Plato's depiction of Eros as the child of Poverty (penia) and Resource (poros) is central to understanding the nature of love. Eros is traditionally seen as self-interested or acquisitive, but this book argues instead that Eros and reason are properly in accord with one another. The moral life and the philosophical life alike depend upon properly trained and directed Eros. Lamascus demonstrates that the presentation of the nature of Poverty is essential to the nature of Eros in the Symposium, doing this through in-depth discussion of the major twentieth century interpretations of Platonic Eros. The book shows that poverty provides an appropriate directing of Eros towards eternal and unchanging goods (and away from an age geared towards material items and wealth), and thus that Plato's mythical treatment of Eros in the Symposium lays the groundwork for understanding the soul's embrace of poverty as a way of living, loving, and knowing. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

A note on interpretation 5

Platonic Eros in the early part of the twentieth century 7

Platonic Eros in the mid- to late-twentieth century: The rise of the egoistic interpretation 12

Platonic Eros in the mid- to late-twentieth century: The response to the charge of egoism 20

2 Myth and Religion in the Interpretation of Eros in the Symposium 25

Mythology in the Symposium 34

3 The Development of the Concept of Poverty: From Deficiency to Abundance 47

The importance of poverty (πενια) in the Symposium 48

The concept of poverty 50

IIεviota;α 57

4 The Intermediacy of Eros 69

Eros, desire, and wish: Establishing the intermediacy of Eros 70

The structure of Eros 74

An enquiry into the senses of intermediacy applicable to Eros 74

5 Metaphysics, Motion, and Morality 91

The metaphysical status of Eros as intermediate 91

The use and work of Eros as intermediate: The moral consequences of the metaphysical status of Eros's intermediacy 95

6 Poverty in the Ascent to the Vision of Beauty 107

The structure of Socrates's discourse 108

Eros, the tripartite soul, and participation in immortality 113

7 Καθαρσιζ and the Purification of Eros 123

The concept of Καθαρσιζ in the Phaedo and the Sophist 124

The method of Καθαρσιζ 126

Virtue and Καθαρσιζ 128.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Lamascus, Lorelle D., author. Poverty of eros in Plato's Symposium

ISBN:

9781474213806

1474213804

OCLC:

929985302