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The Ideas Of Love In Socrates, Descartes, Aristotle, And Plato

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Love is a term that many philosophers and other academics have been attempting to describe and capture the essence of for centuries. In class, the concept of a “life giving touch” was discussed along with a conversation on dating and relationships. This discussion made me wonder what the major philosophies on love are and how these differ from the way it is typically viewed. Socrates, Descartes, Aristotle, and Plato have all expressed their own opinions on love in their various writings. Plato coined his ideas of love in his text, “Symposium”, where love begins as a raw desire and goes through stages in order to be refined intellectually (Burton, 2012). Socrates, as Plato’s student, believed Plato’s ideas, but focused on friendship (Burton, 2012). Aristotle’s described love as “two bodies, one soul (Moseley).” Descartes’ opinions of love come from his talk of passions (Schmitter, 2010). All of these philosophers had something to say about love, but who is correct, or will we ever truly know what love is or from where it comes? Aristotle came first in this line of philosophers. He wrote much of self-love and how it is an important factor in interpersonal relationships. The philosopher also believed that one could not love too many. He says this of relationships: “One cannot be a friend to many people in the sense of having friendship of the perfect type with them, just as one cannot be in love with many people at once (for love is a sort of excess of feeling, and it is the

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