Eros, Agape, and Philia: Readings in the Philosophy of Love

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The philosophy of love
For centuries, popular writers and respected scholars have written about and analyzed the phenomenon of love without exhausting its potential for contemporary debate.

 

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Description

The philosophy of love
For centuries, popular writers and respected scholars have written about and analyzed the phenomenon of love without exhausting its potential for contemporary debate. By representing the three major traditions in the philosophy of love–Platonic eros, Christian agape, and Aristotelian philia–editor Alan Soble has not only examined the intellectual problem of what “love” is, but has designed a dialogue among the three traditions in genuine philosophical style.

 

“Eros is acquisitive, egocentric or even selfish; agape is a giving love. Eros is an unconstant, unfaithful love, while agape is unwavering and continues to give despite ingratitude. Eros is a love that responds to the merit or value of its object; while agape creates value in its object as a result of loving it… Finally, eros is an ascending love, the human’s route to God; agape is a descending love, God’s route to humans… Philia is caught between eros and agape.”–From the Introduction to Eros, Agape and Philia

 

ISSUES EXPLORED:

 

    • What is the state of love today as seen through the eyes of Plato, Aristotle, and Paul?

 

    • How do relations between the sexes illustrate the difficulties of love?

 

    • What are the nature and effects of exclusivity, reciprocity, and constancy?

 

    • What are the conceptual and psychological ties between sex and love?

 

    • Does it make any sense to think of love in moral terms?

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

Preface

 

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Love Alan Soble

 

 

 

Section I: Where We Are

 

Introduction by Alan Soble

 

“On Falling in Love” by Geoffrey Gorer

 

“Women, Men, and Intimacy” by Lillian B. Rubin

 

“Love in a Sexist Society” by Shulamith Firestone

 

 

 

Section II: Classical Sources

 

Introduction by Alan Soble

 

“Socrates Speaks at a Banquet” by Plato

 

“Perfect Friendship” by Aristotle

 

“Sexuality and Love” by St. Paul

 

 

 

Section III: Exploring the Classics

 

Introduction by Alan Soble

 

“Agape and Eros” by Anders Nygren

 

“The Individual as an Object of Love in Plato” by Gregory Vlastos

 

“The Nature of Love” by John A. Brentlinger

 

“Platonic Love” by L.A. Kosman

 

“Friends as Ends in Themselves” by Neera Kapur Badhwar

 

 

 

Section IV: Contemporary Analysis

 

Introduction by Alan Soble

 

“A Conceptual Investigation of Love” by W. Newton-Smith

 

“The Phenomena of Love and Hate” by D.W. Hamlyn

 

“Marital Faithfulness” by Susan Mendus

 

“The Commandability of Pathological Love” by Robert W. Burch

 

“Personal Love” by Robert R. Ehman

 

“Sex, Love, and Justice: A Problem in Moral Education” by Joseph Diorio

 

 

 

Appendix: Discussion Material

 

“For Anne Gregory” by W.B. Yeats

 

“What is the Self?” by Blaise Pascal

 

“Two Love Sonnets” by William Shakespeare

 

“Of Friendship” by Michel de Montaigne

 

“Letter to Chanut” by Rene Descartes

 

“A Love Sonnet” by John Berryman

 

 

ALAN SOBLE is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Orleans and is both the founder and director of the Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love. His other books include Pornography: Marxism, Feminism and the Future of Sexuality, The Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings and The Philosophy of Sex and Love.

 

Additional information

Weight 2 lbs
Dimensions 6 × 9 in

Author

Soble, Alan

ALAN SOBLE, Ph.D., has taught "Philosophy of Sex and Love" as an undergraduate course over 50 times during his academic career. He has written three scholarly books on sexuality and one devoted to love, as well as edited numerous teaching anthologies and an encyclopedia to be used in philosophy of sex and love courses. Dr. Soble is the founder of The Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love. He now teaches at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

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