LOVE IN PHILOSOPHY
“The relationship between love and philosophy is certainly far straight forward.” This is a claim by Alain Badiou presented in his book, “the praise of love.” But what is a philosophy and what is love? As we all know that philosophy means “love of wisdom” (Philo: love and Sophia: wisdom). But what is love is a complicated question to answer. This research paper would follow the definitions of love given by Plato and how it is connected with philosophy.
Plato said, “Love is an idea.” To understand this, take the example of a person who is in love with someone. We would say, he admires his beloved or he idealizes his beloved but rationally is this possible to idealize a human having a similar body? Then what he admires is something that attracts the lover. That’s what logic believes that a human always loves something in someone. Such that he loves the eyes of the beloved as he finds his eyes beautiful, which means that a lover loves the idea of beauty he has in his mind and that resembles the beloved. This shows that love is an idea that you idealizes, and a one who fits well on that idea you call him beloved. That is similar to philosophy. Philosophy is the love of wisdom and as Socrates explained in the symposium that wisdom and ignorance are the two ends and extremes and what holds the middle state is a spirit or an idea. This concludes that how idea lets you step forward from ignorance towards wisdom. This affirms that how love is a gateway to philosophy.
Secondly, Plato said’ “love is a desire.” (Symposium) What is desire? If it is a sexual desire then it affirms that lust is love. But when we dive into Diotima's ladder of love explained by Socrates in the symposium, it takes us to the ladder where the first step is a body of beloved that makes us love to all bodies and when we came to know that soul overweighs the body, we start loving soul. This ladder then takes us to the state where we start seeing beauty in nature and everything. It finally takes us to the peak level which is the love of forms. The forms that are uncreated, indestructible, and unchanging that is why they are eternal. They are neither mental nor physical. They are dependent on “The Good”. Plato believed that The Good give these forms to know the intelligible world which is based on knowledge. Knowledge leads to wisdom (palmer, (2001), p: 42). That’s how love is connected with philosophy. But if we stuck on the first step of the ladder that spells out for the physical love, it will take us to ignorance (opposite of wisdom). Platonic love believes that love doesn’t need a body to fulfill the desire but the friendship (as in Lysis). The movies named; broken flowers and lost in translation, both define platonic love. Both the movies summarize that if we consider love as lust or sex, it never fills the desire however, loving the soul enlightens not only life but the soul even if it remains sexless. (jarmusch, 2005) (capola, 2003).
Thirdly, “love is a pursuit of the whole”. This is also a famous quote of Plato affirms that chasing a whole is love. What is the whole? As we discussed above that human psychology says that we always love something in someone and that something would be the part of someone, not whole. This idea refutes the thought that love, Plato is talking about here is of bodily love. Then what kind of love Plato is talking about? Symposium answers this theory that we always love what we don’t have. Love starts with knowledge. An intimate knowledge that we are imperfect and at the same time aiming and longing for something more perfect than me. The given example is of a philosopher. A philosopher has a pearl of wisdom. He longs for more wisdom and knowledge but also be aware that the whole wisdom is unattainable. This leads him towards chasing for wisdom forever. In phaeudrus, plato described that even madness in love takes you to intellect which is wisdom of whole. This advocates the idea “that whole” in the platonic view, is connected with “The Good” and the forms we have discussed earlier. In the conclusion of this quote, philosophy is a way towards wisdom and if chasing that wisdom is love then love shows his palpable connection to philosophy.
If we talk about today’s world where love is only interpreted in the erotic and physical sense. Then in what aspects platonic view could be affirmed? For this take an example, if a person loves his beloved intensely, he believes that his beloved is perfect for him in any aspect. His beloved own everything he wants, likes, lacks, or desire. Then, according to Plato, it means that the lover loves not the beloved but the image of his beloved; the image of perfection in his mind. That affirms that this image is an idea, desire for perfectionism, and a shadow of a person.
conclusively, arguments proved above assures that Platonist like alain badiou’s claim ”anyone who doesn’t take love as their starting-point will never discover what philosophy is about” is true.
References:
A, (2012), “in praise of love” ,book
Coppola,sofia, (2003), “broken flowers”, movie
Jarmusch, jam, (2005), “lost in translation”, movie
D, (2001), “Does The Centre Hold?”, libgen.com
Plato, “symposium”. dialogue
Plato, “lysis” , dialogues
Plato, “pheudus” , dialogues
All quotes by Plato given in text have been taken by these readings referenced above.
LOVE IN HISTORY:
Courtly love is a literary concept of love introduced in medieval Europe that originated from troubadours and Cathar beliefs. It spells out of a new kind of erotic love. Famous writer Denis de Rougemont in his book “love in the western world” claimed that courtly love is a distinctively western concept of love whose foundation was laid on the story of Tristan and Isolde written by Wagner in 1865. On a contrary, it is believed that the concept of courtly love was already presented in eastern literature even before Tristan and Isolde. This paper argues in the opposition of Rougemont’s claim and elucidates the elements of courtly love in the eastern concept of love given by Nizami Ganjavi in 1177 (Layla Majnun) and 1180 (Khusrow Shirin).
Firstly, in Tristan and Isolde, the point where the love begins is the love potion which is also considered as a myth. Love potion has been told as the main factor of courtly love. However, if we now speculate Layla Majnun and Khusrow Shirin, this love potion has disguised differently. In Khusrow Shirin, the painting Shahpur made of his charming prince to which Shirin fell in love with at first sight, then on the third day, she started considering that painting as an idol (Nizami, p: 06). This painting serves as a love potion for Shirin. For Khusrow, the dream he saw when his grandfather told him of Shirin and then Shahpur praising her beauty let Khusrow fell in love with her, which shows that the dream he saw played a part of love potion for Khusrow (Nizami, p: 05). In Layla Majnun, the image of beauty both Layla Majnun has in their minds that when they saw each other, without uttering a word to each other, they fell in love. This elucidates that the image of beauty played as a love potion for both Layla and Majnun. (Nizami, p: 04). This affirms that the concept of love potion was already given before Tristan and Isolde but in a different sense.
Secondly, courtly love in Rougemont’s lens is a new kind of Eros. He believed that courtly love is a passionate love but a reverse of physical love. After the love potion, Tristan and Isolde were in love as well as passionate about each other. Rougemont said that passionate equates with adultery (Rougemont, p: 05) and Tristan and Isolde commit adultery by transgression. Conversely, the idea of Eros presented in the east is disguised but represented. This idea was portrayed when, “Khosrow pleaded with Shirin to follow him to a secret place, an obscure corner of the court where they could talk of love and kiss, and not be seen. Mindful of her promise to the queen, Shirin resisted.” (Nizami, p: 14). This narration showed passion and adultery differently. Again in Layla Majnun, it has shown differently. When Layla reached puberty and was married to ibn e Salam, she stopped him from touching her as she was in love with Majnun (Nizami, p: 13). Here, it has shown differently, as she was passionate in love with Majnun, she preferred Eros over Epithumia (lust or desire). Hence, the concept of adultery in eastern culture falls in Umari love. However, Nizami illustrates the idea of Udhari love. But in these ways, Nizami in 1177 and 1180 C.E portrayed the love of the body of the beloveds only. In this way, courtly love is an inversion of physical love or profane love. Thus, all three stories depict the same concept.
Thirdly, the concept of suffering opposes Rougemont's claim. Rougemont claimed that passion is suffering (Rougemont, p: 04). That is what we see in Tristan and Isolde that how lovers suffered in love because of the barons. This replicates the same idea presented in Nizami's novels. In Khusrow Shirin, both lovers suffered when the King of the Byzantine Empire asked Khusrow to marry Queen Maryam so that he will lend him his army to take Persia’s throne. In this way, when the King forced Khusrow to marry Queen Maryam, misunderstandings took place between lovers and they suffered (Nizami, p: 14). In Layla Majnun, the father of Layla lets both Majnun and Layla suffer as he doesn’t want to give his daughter to Majnun (Nizami, p: 13). In this way, suffer the longings, which is a part of courtly love also presented in eastern literature.
Most importantly, the love of death. Rougemont says that courtly love is a love of death (Rougemont, p: 04). This belief originated from Gnostics, who says that death is freedom from this evil world and is relieve of souls from the flesh. Hence, when lovers die in love, their souls meet for eternity. In Tristan and Isolde, both died for each other. Shirin killed herself in the same way Khusrow was killed and both died in love, and also in Layla Majnun, Majnun died at Layla's tomb and buried in the same place. That affirms the saying true love has no ending and Plotinus's concept of unification of souls to the One portrayed in all these stories. They all were in love with death to unite with their beloveds.
Conclusively, Rougemont's claim of fatal love or courtly love is distinctively western is fallacious. If Tristan and Isolde are the foundational story of courtly love, then all these elements are presented in eastern literature as well. Thus, the interpretation of eastern love was unnamed but western culture named a similar concept as courtly love.
REFERENCE:
All the in-text citations are from readings included in syllabus such as,
Khusrow Shirin by Nizami Ganjavi in 1180 C.E.
< >Layla Majnun by Nizami Ganjavi in 1177 C.E.Tristan and Isolde by Wagner in 1865. “Love in the Western World” book by Denis de Rougemont.
Plato said that “Love is an idea” which iterates that love is between lover and the image of the beloved he has, not between a lover and beloved. Although, we have studied stories like Romeo Juliet, Tristan, and Isolde, khusrow shirin, or Layla majnun, where lover loved beloved and beloved loved the lover back. The novella written by Carson McCullers named, “the ballad of a sad cafe” made us believe that not every love story ends with love, not every beloved loves the lover back. In this novella, Carson presented a grotesque fairytale with a clear moral. The Ballad of the Sad Café is a story about a love triangle mixed with a strong dose of love and hatred, commitment and disloyalty, loneliness, and companionship. All the events take place in a small town, where raw realism encounters the absurd and the grotesque. The tragedy so far-fetched that might seem comical, a transformation of real people into exaggerations that were rendered in such a way that they all end up seeming weird, lonely, or unique. Hence, this novella presented complex characters that seem unorthodox in the Pakistani context.
A love triangle that McCullers presented in his novella is between Amelia, Cousin Lymon, and Marvin Macy. The primary relationship of the story was Amelia and Marvin Macy. Ms. Amelia and Marvin Macy got married for ten days. Being an unhappy couple, they both parted their ways in such a way that Marvin went to prison while Amelia lived in her house running her shop. McCullers presented an unconventional character of Amelia. Amelia was 6’2 feet high, with manly looks and physique was the richest woman in town. In this story, the female character showed by a female writer with a feminist approach. McCullers gave those attributes to her female character that are unusual to the women in our society. She painted an image of Amelia as a girl with average looking face and strong-headed, rational women. A passage portrayed Amelia's tough headedness, “A groom is in a sorry fix. When he is unable to bring his well-beloved bride to bed with him, and when the whole town knows it. Marvin Macy came down that day still in his wedding finery, and with a sick face. God knows how he had spent the night. He moped about the yard, watching Miss Amelia, but keeping some distance away from her” (McCullers, p: 422). She was not a woman who could be controlled by a man. On the other hand, Marvin Macy was a handsome guy with a mean mind. Hence, their marriage remained an unhappy marriage. That is the primary relationship Carson gave in his novella. This relationship of being chained in an unhappy marriage is normal in our society but characters like Marvin and Amelia were not common in our literature at that time.
Secondly, the other relationship is between hunchback and Amelia. Hunchback named Lymon who claimed to be Amelia’s cousin. Amelia started being in love with Lymon however, Lymon doesn’t. Through this relationship, McCullers affirms that love nourishes the lover’s personality. As Amelia started taking care of Lymon, her love for Lymon started reflecting through her gestures. But the Lymon, being a grotesque figure of the story, who has short height could be called a dwarf as he was more than four feet means two feet shorter than Amelia. In this relationship, McCullers iterated the fact that love is blind. Love never sees height, color, or anything physical as a woman like Amelia fell in love with a man who was shorter than her. In this way, McCullers presented a realistic picture that the female character was not beautiful to whom everyone fell in love and the male character is not complimenting with female one but she still fell in love with him. Unlikely, in our society where beauty stereotypes are attached with women and physical appearances of man matters to get along a relationship.
The third relationship McCullers illustrated is of cousin Lymon and Marvin Macy. The concept of a gay, homosexual relationship in which Lymon was in love with Marvin. Marvin was only using Lymon to fulfill his wicked plans. Marvin used Lymon to betray Amelia as well as Lymon. Here, the point is that McCullers, again being a phenomenal writer, showed a gay relationship at that time. He unfolded the bitter truth of reality and also told the different forms of love other than heterosexual. Hence, Marvin and Lymon betrayed Amelia, stole all her money, bruised her, and then left.
Furthermore, McCullers built diverse characters. He presented a small town with a nosy society and three different characters. First, Marvin Macy was a handsome wicked man. Lymon, a grotesque gay male. Amelia, on whom McCullers emphasized.
Conclusively, McCullers wrote a story with a dark subject. She gave a moral of tragic lonely love. McCullers sheds light on the complexity of Ms. Amelia that despite a betrayal Lymon gave to Amelia, Amelia still waited for him. She never wants to listen to his name but still sits on the doorstep wishing for the comeback of Lymon. Hence, McCullers drew a plot of complex humanly emotions and a concept of love. She gave a tragic story having a combination of both love and hate. This affirms that, unlike the folktales, love is not between lover and beloved but the lover and his idea of beloved.
LOVE IN RELIGION ESSAY:
Religions give a set of life or standard to humans whether it is Christianity, Hinduism, Jewish or Islam, etc. in this way, mysticism in religions is not very distinctive from each other. Since, we have read Christian, Hinduism, and Muslim mysticism from a female lens, some distinctive features have been observed in songs of the song of India and Teresa of Avila. Firstly, the major fact that was visible was considering God as a husband or betrothal. In this context, what I have noticed is the reflection of our society in that. In all religions, women have been taught to surrender before her husband. Similarly, in mysticism, the concept of the husband was changed to God. This was the most distinctive feature I have noticed in female writings about mysticism. In Teresa Of Avila, she wrote, “In the spiritual marriage the union is like what we have when rain falls from the sky into a river or fount; all is water, for the rain that fell from heaven cannot be divided or separated from the water of the river. Or it is like what we have when a little stream enters the sea, there is no means of separating the two.” In this statement, Teresa portrayed a wedding picture of one with God which seems feminine to me in a way that here the place of man in a marriage has been given to God and thus named as a spiritual marriage. Furthermore, in spiritual betrothal, she explained, “The spiritual betrothal is
different, for the two often separate. And the union is also different because, even though it is the joining of two things into one, in the end, the two can be separated and each remains by itself. We observe this ordinarily, for the favor of union with the Lord passes quickly, and afterward, the soul remains without that company; I mean, without awareness of it.” I found this distinctive in a way that union with God has symbolized by marriage and betrothal by considering God as a groom and female mystic as a bride.Secondly, in the Christian mysticism of females, the love for god has been stated by giving feminine examples. In Teresa Of Avila, it has written, “From those divine breasts where it seems God is always sustaining the soul there flow streams of milk bringing comfort to all the people of the castle. It seems the Lord desires that in some manner these others in the castle may enjoy the great deal the soul is enjoying and that from that full-flowing river, where this tiny font is swallowed up, a spurt of that water will sometimes be directed toward the sustenance of those whom incorporeal things must serve these two who are wed.” in this dialogue, it is explained that those wed with God, God will open His breasts to give streams of milk. God’s blessings have been symbolized by the mother’s breast milk.Thirdly, in songs of a song of India, Mirabai poetries, she presented the notion of God as a beloved. She wrote,
sister, I had a dream that I wed the Lord of those who live in need: Five hundred sixty thousand people came and the Lord of Braj was the groom. In the dream they set up a wedding arch; in the dream he grasped my hand; in the dream, he led me around the wedding fire and I became unshakably his bride. Mira's been granted her mountain-lifting Lord: from living past lives, a prize.In this poetry, she illustrated the whole wedding scene as well as portrayed her Indian and Hindu culture. In the love of God, she weds with Him to have a union with Him. Moreover, she wrote, Life without Hari is no life, friend, And though my mother-in-law fights, My sister-in-law teases, The rana is angered, A guard is stationed on a stool outside, And a lock is mounted on the door, How can I abandon the love I have loved in life? Afterlife/ Mira's Lord is the clever Mountain Lifter: Why would I want anyone else?
Here Mirabai discussed her in-laws. As Hinduism is a polytheist religion she has her in-laws as well. To put it differently, I felt in these texts that the norms and rituals we have in our cultures and religions have been reflected in these texts in mysticism. As Mirabai pictured her wedding with Divine in Hindu rituals, and Teresa presented her spiritual betrothal as in Christianity it is a ritual of getting betrothed and marriage. In this way, female texts reflect their religions and rituals. On the other hand, the image of wife and husband is also portrayed in these texts. Hence, the distinctive feminine feature in religious mysticisms is their emotional and conventional notions of female in a society.
