Love and Beauty - 1208 Words

Love is neither wise nor beautiful, but the desire or pursuit of wisdom and beauty. Love is expressed via propagation and reproduction, as in the exchange and development of ideas. Socrates in the Symposium best expresses this belief. Socrates view of Love and Beauty was that one is the pursuit of the other, and that other is the greatest of all knowledge. Love is a driving force, a compulsion forward to a goal. Much as a moth is drawn to light, for its heat, people are lured to Beauty by Love. Love is an emotion, and like all emotions, we are compelled to an action by it. As Anger might drive us to violence, against that which is hated, Love does lead us to adore that which is Beauty. Love has many forms as well. There is physical†¦show more content†¦Men pregnant in this way Ââ€" poets, inventive craftsmen and the life Ââ€" look for persons who are beautiful, and taking the education of these in hand, at once find much to say on excellence and on how mean ought to live. In addition, the produce writings, legal institutions and other things of the kind; and many of them become famous, as did Solon, for their works and other forms of excellence.(White, 150) White confirms this point: That Love seeks immortality through reproduction, of both a physical, and of an ideological nature. In Symposium, Socrates engages in a debate with his fellow intellectuals on the topic of Love and Beauty. Socrates and Plato s view, that of Love being the spirit of pursuing Beauty and things beautiful does not stand alone in this text. Socrates counterparts argue in favor of a more traditional view of Love held by Greek culture. The dialogue records the brilliant conversation at a dinner party at which Socrates is a guest. Those who speak before Socrates mainly share what Jeffrey Henderson refers to as the typical Greek tendency to glorify the instinct of sex rather than its particular objects (The Maculate Muse, [New Haven, 1975], 205). For them, love (Eros) is a god whose beauty and goodness they compete with one another in praising. Even Pausanias, who takes care to distinguish noble from base love, claims that it is always honorable toShow MoreRelatedThe Essence Of The Beauty Of Love1094 Words   |  5 Pages Running Into Love at Unexpected Times Many people find themselves hypnotized whenever they stumble into live at unexpected times. Indeed love is one of the most spontaneous phenomena ever. One just never knows when it strikes, or even stops. Some analysts say that this is the essence of the beauty of love. While this is a widely debatable stance, you can at least learn how to respond to the spontaneity so you are not caught unawares; forewarned is foretold. 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