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Critique of Plato theory of love
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A Critique and Understanding of Plato’s Theory on Love
Plato provides a persuasive theory on love throughout his exchange of ideas in the Symposium and the Phaedrus. However, there are three objections worth arguing to Plato’s theory which include the following: 1) his characteristics of love are expressed from a cultural setting (in relation to sexual attitudes and perceptions of beauty), 2) Plato focuses on a love of assets rather than of persons, and 3) Plato’s theory on love is self-centered. With these objections, there are three modifications to help one gain a better understanding on the purpose of love which are 1) Plato’s theory can really only be understood from a cultural context, given that there is a high prevalence of homosexual love, 2) loving a person for the sake of boosting one’s utility is wrong and insufficient to explain a truly altruistic and proper notion of love, and 3) there is a difference between loving a person’s traits given that loving a person’s qualities and loving a person mean two different things. Ultimately, it is important to show that Plato can meet the objections and that his theory can still offer helpful insights into the understanding of love in our own lives. Given that Plato is reflecting on love from a cultural context, it is important to assess this theory its specific time period. Context is pertinent to his theory and since Plato has many characteristics that help define love, it is certain that these descriptions are ...
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