Love, Self, and Plato's Symposium

Abstract

The close connection between the concepts 'love' and 'self' is well brought out in the "symposium". For diotima, There is no more to a person than his qualities, Thus love can intelligibly only be directed to such qualities; given these assumptions, Love must be essentially 'impersonal'. Twentieth century analyses of love as being properly directed to a person rather than his qualities, Together with associated accounts of altruism, Presuppose traditional christian interpretations of man as transcending his qualities. If contemporary humean conceptions of the self are correct, Analyses of love as essentially 'personal' must be rejected; and vice versa.