Plato's View On Love Analysis

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When focusing on relationships within ones life, there are many different aspects involved. Whether it includes friendship, kinship, or romance, or even if it includes works taught from class readings, these relationships are all unique in their own ways, and have distinctive stories behind each and every one of them. For myself, I found that a relationship with one of my closest friends for the past thirteen years was appropriate to focus on. Jackie has, and always will be one of my closest friends for years to come. When reminiscing on this relationship, and comparing it to class material, I found that it involved many ideas talked about throughout the works of Leonard Plotnicov, and Plato. Both of these philosophers have their own views …show more content…
These ideas are an important aspect of Plato’s work, and when analyzing them, I was able to make connections towards my friendship with Jackie. Once I found connections between Plato’s works, and my friendship, it became clear to me how Platonic love relates strongly to a relationship such as my own. To begin, I focused upon the term “Love is aroused by Beauty.” In this sense, I do not necessarily agree with Plato’s view. He believes that in order to love someone entirely you must love their “beauty,” in terms of their physical characteristics. Regardless if the way Jackie looked was appealing to me or not, I would still have a friendship just as strong as I do now, because the friendship we have based on love, personality, and trust, is more satisfying then any other form of beauty possible. “Love makes us whole as individuals” is an important aspect when comparing it to my friendship. Mentioned previously when focusing on Plotnicov’s work, when I was not in the presence of Jackie I felt as if I was incomplete. Even though my friendship is not based upon sexual desires, I still love Jackie just like I would love my significant other in a romantic relationship. I felt that when I provided her with love, and it was reciprocated, I was more “whole” as an individual, and was satisfied within the love aspect of my life. When providing love to another person, whether it is a friend, spouse, or family member, it often brings out our best attributes and qualities. This is where the next point from Plato’s view on love comes into play. Classified as “Love brings the best out of us as lovers,” I found this term to closely relate to the ways in which Jackie and I act within our relationship. We both have such a strong and passionate

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