Erosophy
I told a girl that I loved her, she asked if I meant "érōs", "philía", or "agápē".
We all know that philosophy is the love of wisdom. Some think that wisdom means true knowledge; hence, philosophy becomes the love of true knowledge. To me though wisdom is practical knowledge; so philosophy becomes something more like the love of knowing how to live well. So much for sophía. Being a romantic I'm slightly more interested in love, in particular which Greek word for love best captures a love of wisdom. I have not studied Greek as a language, and by no means am I an expert about these things, but from what I have managed to piece together there are three main words for love.
Firstly, there is agápē, which i think of as being downwards love. It is an altruistic love that is best captured by the love god showed us when he sacrificed his only son to save us. The reason for seeing it as being downwards love is that the object of agápē is something below you. As man is below god, the people who receive my charity are below me. I think it almost goes without saying that this is not the love that characterises a philosophers love of wisdom.
Next, there is philía, which I think of as being sideways love. It is a brotherly love that is best captured by the love between family members and friends. The reason for seeing it as being sideways love is that the object of philía is pretty much on the same level as you. I love my brother, and my brother loves me in return, and philía correctly describes the relationship in both directions. Strangely this is the word that is used to describe a philosophers love of wisdom. But doing so supposes that you are on equal terms with wisdom. This doesn't seem to square with the fact that the hero of philosophy, Socrates, is significant for expressing his own lack of wisdom and showing the same is true of everyone that he entered into discussion with. If a philosopher thought he was wise, then he would not be, and philía to me suggests that the philosopher thinks they are on the level with wisdom.
Lastly is érōs, which I think of as being an upwards love. It is a lusty love that is traditionally rendered as being romantic or erotic love. The reason for seeing it as being upwards love is that érōs is determined by the higher beauty and worthiness of the object being loved. It is a love of something that you do not have, but that you are you pursuing with your whole self. This is exactly the sort of love that a philosopher should have towards wisdom. To truly learn you must first realise that you lack knowledge. Once you realise this, yet see that it is pure and beautiful and worthy, then no obstacle will be great enough to stand in the way of you pursuing it with all your life. It is for these reasons that I believe Philosophy would be more accurately named Erosophy.
[edit: L2speelnoob]
10 comments:
fuck that was a boring diatribe. watch this instead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sZuN0xXWLc
stan swearing makes baby jesus cry...
taking the piss out of the memory of someone who died aye?
Era,
I agree regarding your overall idea about philosophy being a pursuit of wisdom. However, I think you're adding in some concepts that I don't think were implicit in these words, and leaving out concepts that I think probably were implicit in them. You've tried to relate them to each other using a heirachical system which describes the position of the entities related by a connection of agape, philia, or eros. However, I believe all of these words could be used accross the range of heirachical orders you've outlined. In other words, I think while your categories provide an interesting perspective, I don't think it would have been one shared by at least the 1st century Greeks (whose culture I've studied the most).
More likely, I think, is that these different words describe different qualities of love. I recommend looking at the wikipedia page on the Greek words for love. Even better, read this page.
It seems unlikly that the Greeks would have wanted to be driven by eros, because that was often associated with ones "passions" - which needed to be mastered and not allowed to control one. I think philia can also be directed to things people are pursuing, but it doesn't carry the same negative connotations as eros would have to Greeks who were concerned about akrasia - lack of self-mastery. The only exception was Plato, who used eros in combination with his idea of Forms to get some quite different connotation out of the word. He, I think, should be see as an exception to the commonly understood meaning of eros.
Hence I don't think it's surprising that we have philosophy rather than erosophy. Philia conveys a sense of attraction more strongly, whereas eros conveys a sense of passion more strongly. Both may result in being drawn to something with "your whole self" as you put it, but different things are being highlighted by the different words - it is not simply a matter of heirarchy.
Hope that was helpful.
Check out Plato on Eros while I gather my thoughts.
Ah, boys. You have discussed every aspect except one (which I don't seriously expect you to answer): who was the girl? ;)
My Hungarian mistress, she knows who she is and that is enough I guess.
this is why I call my blog 'erosophy: the interested, embodied, passionate love of wisdom'
I too find that it is a more suitable term for the wisdom that I love so deeply.
http://erosophy.wordpress.com
Hi shannon =)
You know that saying, 'great minds think alike'? Apparently ours do too...
What do you understand 'wisdom' to be? If you understand what wisdom is, then do you have any? And if so, can you teach me some?
Ps. I decided a while ago to fill in my religion on facebook as Erosophy, maybe that would solve your dilemma too.
Thanks for wasting my time. I was googling for something particular, and this crap made the list. Why is it that everyone and their mother has a blog? And why is it that most often, it is the students just learning the subject matter that are eager to declare their knowledge as if they've had it all along. Approval seeking is a stinky cologne, and it's disgusting how most people are so slavish that it is this approval seeking that they seek all their lives.
Philosophy is not practical, unless you have in ethics in mind which IS practical philosophy. And eros is not lust, by the way. Had you read Aristotle and Plato's Phaedrus, you would know eros is not "lusty". You've merely recited the cheap colloquial definition/misconception today.
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