Author Description
This Book Fully Explores For The First Time An Idea Common To Plato And Aristotle, Which Unites Their Treatments - Otherwise Very Different - Of Love And Friendship. The Idea Is That Although Persons Are Separate, Their Lives Need Not Be. One Person's Life May Overflow Into Another's, And As Such, Helping Another Person Is A Way Of Serving Oneself. The Author Shows How Their View Of Love And Friendship, Within Not Only Personal Relationships, But Also The Household And Even The City-state, Promises To Resolve The Old Dichotomy Between Egoism And Altruism. -;friendship And Desire In The Lysis; Love In The Symposium; Love In The Phaedrus; Perfect Friendship In Aristotle; Aristotle On The Varieties Of Friendship; The Household; The City; Epilogue; Appendices; Homogeneity And Beauty In The Symposium; Psychoanalysis Looks At The Phaedrus; Plato's Sexual Morality; Aristotle On Erotic Love; List Of Modern Works Cited. -
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates the shared philosophical premise in the works of Plato and Aristotle that human lives can transcend individual boundaries through the mechanisms of love and friendship. A. W. Price, a scholar of classical philosophy, examines how these thinkers conceptualize the overflow of one person's life into another. By analyzing their distinct treatments of personal relationships, the household, and the city-state, the author argues that their frameworks offer a resolution to the traditional philosophical conflict between egoism and altruism.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Comparative analysis of Platonic and Aristotelian ethics regarding interpersonal connection
- Detailed examination of the Lysis, Symposium, and Phaedrus
- Investigation of friendship within the structure of the household and the city-state
- Discussion of erotic love and sexual morality in classical thought
Scope Limits
- The text does not provide a general history of Greek social customs outside of the philosophical context
- It does not attempt to reconcile these ancient views with modern psychological theories beyond the included appendices
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars and students of classical philosophy frequently cite this work as a rigorous examination of the intersection between personal desire and civic duty in ancient thought. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which requires a foundational understanding of Platonic and Aristotelian texts to fully grasp the arguments presented.
Page Count:
278
Publication Date:
1989-01-01
Publisher:
Clarendon Press
ISBN-10:
0191586617
ISBN-13:
9780191586613
Philosophy
Plato
Aristotle
Ethics
Literary collections