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The Egoism of Eros: The Challenge of Love in Diotima’s Speech
- The Review of Metaphysics
- The Philosophy Education Society, Inc.
- Volume 72, Number 3 (Issue No. 287), March 2019
- pp. 441-461
- 10.1353/rvm.2019.0012
- Article
- Additional Information
Abstract:
This article is an analysis of the Socratic account of love presented by Diotima in Symposium 210a–212a. The author explores and responds to two philosophic objections to this account of love: first, that it is self-absorbed and, second, that it is incapable of loving a particular person. He argues that this criticism misses the mark. Diotima’s account of eros is not so much egotistical as ordered to an objective good. Further, in the final analysis, eros is not grasping and acquisitive but generous and diffusive. Finally, the author argues that the Socratic account of love is, in fact, especially well equipped to love the particular.