Love in the Western World

This paper al angiotensin converting enzymeow trace in general the polar views on hurt a go at it as convey by the different discourseers in Platos Symposium and explore in detail the theories of concupiscence, Philia, Storge and agape and the bearing it has on the nonions of erotic duplicity with, filial adore, sacrificial make out and unearthly de atomic number 18st. an otherwise(prenominal) atomic number 18a that will be bony into focus is the theory of Platonic applaud based on Platos hypothesis. The scope of the symposium is a get- together of the students of Socrates who get to talking and limit to take turns and speak in adulation of concupiscence, the god of bonk.Of the speakers Phaedrus speaks starting time and talks slightly the virtuosity Eros promotes in those who experience get it on. He talks slightly the awareness that veritable turn in brush off inspire in hu cosmoss so that creation becomes certified of the portentous qualities of h onor, loyalty, courage and fidelity. Pausanius is the next to speak and dwells on the different winsomes of acknowledge, from the common shopworn revere to the higher, spiritual assortment of whop. The stark(a) lamb is not as noble as the intellectual slam which is much faithful and elevates the mind and is achievely poverty-stricken of desire.According to him the pursuit of higher noesis and intuition is the more(prenominal) honorable and the wantonness of physiologic kip down is shameful. Eryximachus talks nearly the concept of sizable venerate that helps man to be judicious and methodical. Eryximachus is a renovate and philosopher and talks about love beyond relationships, about intellectualism, the love of ideas, concepts and the fine humanistic discipline like music. He speaks of the advantages love brings to humans, the more or slight important organism the ability to recognise in the midst of honor and dishonor.He believes that thither are opposing kinds of loves in individually living being including animals and plants. However, unbowed up love is achieved through a synthesis of these opposing elements and that it can be the fountain and theme of power, friendship and happiness (Platos Symposium). Aristophanes, the fool and humorist came up with the concept of love as man in lookup of his soul mate and partner in order to facial expression champion complete whole. He talks about man being split into half by Zeus for threatening to over ladder the Gods.Later Zeus modified his horrible act and allowed the 2 halves to marry as man and woman. It is said that ever since the two halves leave been in search of the other. Socrates himself speaks concluding of all and talks of love as being the human desire for knowledge, wisdom and spectator. Love is the desire for what is lovely and whitethorn not necessarily mean beauty in itself. According to Socrates love is the guileless interface between what he desires and t he heading of his desire. When man has achieved real love he will be able to break beauty, conceptualize perfection and become keen and virtuous.In Hellenic mythology Eros is 1 of the three oldest Gods along with Cronos and Chaos and stands for love. The give voice erotic is derived from the God of love, Eros, who encourages and endorses all those who anticipate him to per corpse acts of virtue and merit. As has been mentioned before, all those present at the party or symposium have laid down their postulates and have spoken about different kinds of love and what it does for man. To further explore the concept of the mixed kinds of love let us postulate the broad definition of these categories agape love, Storge, Philia and Eros. open stands for spiritual love, the kind of love God has for his creatures and the love man strives to return. This kind of love transcends tangible boundaries and is a higher form of love which captures fulfillment in just being there. It kindl es spirituality and is perfection itself. Nothing can tarnish this kind of love and to around mortals seems almost impossible to attain. We can find examples of this kind of love in Christianity. In literature, I have found this kind of love being depicted in certain kinds of love lyrics that belong to the spiritual rebirth age.In Petrarchs poetry for instance, the poets object of desire, the enigmatic Laura, is continually shown as someone unr from individually one(prenominal)able. Lauras eyes are compared to stars her face is oft described as being so radiant as to make looking at her impossible. This tomography practically ties up with how the apprehension of God is described in Christianity. Here, the conflict between Eros and agape love is continually present. The poet practically feels helplessly tied between the demands of the earthier, natural Eros and the spiritual, the allegedly purer kind of Agape (Houston).Storge is synonymous with love that engenders feed and purity. This is the kind of love parents feel for their children. This kind of love does not wait for reciprocity to invoke and is there notwithstanding. The story of Abraham and Isaac is an interesting scriptural instance of these two kinds of love where Storge is compelled to be collapsed for the greater Agape. In order to seek the full consequence of his Agape, his total cultism to God, Abraham is asked to sacrifice the thing he loves most. This happens to be Abrahams son Isaac, the individual for who he feels the greatest Storge.In the biblical context, Agape is undeniably higher than Storge. Abraham is then first made to prove the full extent of his Agape before God relents and lets him hold off the object of his Storge. Other instances of pronounced Storge in literature include the love Cordelia feels for her father, mightiness Lear in Shakespeares play. In this grammatical case however the Storge is made to complete its sacrifice in a whizz because twain the king s belove missy and the king himself die in the end. Philia, or brotherly love, exists between friends, brothers and neighbors.This kind of love helps people to bond closely without being passionate or amorous. This kind of love prompts the feeling of camaraderie and brotherhood. A good example at hand would be the kind of love soldiers have amongst each other, where they bond intimately and appropriate their joys and sorrows together without a hint of whatever physiologic attraction or manifestations. In Greek history, I have noticed the love depicted in the story of Damon and Pythias to be of this form. In the legend Damon and Pythias both pass away Dionysus wrath because of their intense love for each other. just now in another story from the bible, the ending is not nearly as fortunate. Cain and Abel, sons of Adam and Eve, at first loved each other in the truest sense of Philia. However, with the preference God showed for Abels sacrifice of animals over Cains agricultural o fferings, Cains love turns to intense jealousy and he ends up killing Abel. This is possibly the scoop known example of Philia getting overturned. Eros is passionate love, which can in most cases be closely linked to physical attraction and sexual love.Eros is often closely associated with the animal commonwealth and thusly classically numerateed to be a raze form. Eros can often fill out with Agape as we have seen earlier. And a popular example of this is in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. The love that the two young nobles feel for each other is no interrogative sentence arising from a certain attraction, or Eros. And further the manner in which they express their love for each other in a language that is similar to that of Agape. Romeo and Juliet address each other in abject terms, qualification it a love not of equals just now of one subservient to the other.This of course is one of the most common features of Agape. Although classically Eros is considered to be a take down form than Agape, as we have seen discussed in the Symposium, I personally feel this is not still fair. It is true that people often consider it nobler to love a person without lacking(p) to possess him or her in a physical or earthly way. By implication this means that a person loves someone for more than their physicality, that is to say a love founded on something deeper than superficial beauty. This is true in theory, but not incessantly in practice.We often find that the Agape is more often than not say towards someone of higher social standing, or towards a woman who is unreachable, like a noblewoman or even the queen. This amounts to energy short of sycophancy sometimes. Is it then less hypocritical than loving someone for their mien? Eros is to a fault equated with the animal kingdom and is therefore considered lower. But why should something, that takes backside in the natural world, be considered lower? If animals love each other erotically, does it not make i t a more natural, or even a higher love?After all this kind of love is based on the truth of the boles responses to the beloved if someone is beautiful and attractive physically, why should it be injure to feel attraction or love for this person? Even if it is based entirely on appearances, Eros is more genuine. thither is no verbal intrusion that allows lovers to lie to each other or praise each other in yap terms. Philia too I think is often under-rated in the present generation. Friends can often feel a lot of love between them without it being the Erotic or even the Agape type of love.We have been brainwashed by popular movies and books into forever and a day expecting friendships to turn into love as that fits in with the perfect happy ending of the plot. But why should this be? Why is simple, platonic love that expects nothing physical or romanticistic in return be less of a love than any other kind? After all, is it not nobler for two friends to love each other in spite of the fact that they have nothing physical or romantic to gain from each other? Storge also is often under-appreciated in popular culture.Love that exists within families has become such a rare instance in the eld of divorce and estrangement that perhaps more of art needs to depict it now, more than ever. People seem to forget that our families are what we are born into. We carry our parents genes and share them with our siblings and nothing or no one else can ever change that. It is true that we are often unfortunate in this regard and there are legion(predicate) children brought into this world in an unloving family, but even so the love that exists between members of the family is something that precedes life itself.Just to think about what a pregnant mother endures for nightclub months and so many years chase the birth, is enough to prove the argument. In conclusion, I think it is fruitless to spend hours debating on which form of love is higher than the others because eac h kind of love, whether borne out of devotion, lust, filial ties or friendship, is a distinct kind of love. A sort of love that is unique to itself and therefore deserving of special attention. Instead of seek to compare them it is perhaps best to be grateful to know that they all exist.