The End of Love? Krinks, Philip
Archai (Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil),
03/2020
29
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Plato’s Symposium contains two accounts of eros which explicitly aim to reach a telos. The first is the technocratic account of the doctor Eryximachus, who seeks an exhaustive account of eros, common ...to all things with a physical nature. For him medical techne can create an orderly erotic harmony; while religion is defined as the curing of disorderly eros. Against this Socrates recounts the priestess Diotima finding a telos, not in technical exhaustiveness, but in a dialectical definition of eros in the light of the good. What is common to all human beings is the desire to be in eternal relation to the good. All technai are forms of poiesis, by which things pass from being to not being. The erotic harmony recommended by Eryximachus, no less than the Aristophanes” recommendation of eros as “of a half, or of a whole’, is subject to the question whether “it happens to be good’. A self-harmonisation produced by techne can no more evade the sovereignty of good, than can projects of self-completion with a beloved in our likeness.
Read theologically, Plato’s Symposium is an exercise in doxology: how Eros is to be praised. Pausanias observes that, since Eros is not one, a unitary praise will be inadequate. Proposing a focus on ...praxis, he classifies erotic praxes, and praises one, in a synthesis of contemporary convention, sophistic rationality, social responsibility and polytheistic fidelity. Against this Socrates praises erotic praxis as one of a plurality of desires mediating between mortals and an otherwise transcendent good. Desire which is specifically erotic involves a praxis of (pro)creation through attention to beauty. In this praxis mortals participate in immortality and the divine. Pausanias’ praise is seriously offered. However, lacking a participatory element, it delivers an underwhelming doxology, making Eros at best an instrument of a sophistically constructed virtue ethic to which his polytheism is ambiguously connected. It is the philosophical theology of Socrates, which, praising Eros as a mediator enabling participation in the divine realm, and offering itself as an analogous form of mediation, is able to be consummated liturgically.
Plato's Symposium contains two accounts of eros which explicitly aim to reach a telos. The first is the technocratic account of the doctor Eryximachus, who seeks an exhaustive account of eros, common ...to all things with a physical nature. For him medical techne can create an orderly erotic harmony; while religion is defined as the curing of disorderly eros. Against this Socrates recounts the priestess Diotima finding a telos, not in technical exhaustiveness, but in a dialectical definition of eros in the light of the good. What is common to all human beings is the desire to be in eternal relation to the good. All technai are forms of poiesis, by which things pass from being to not being. The erotic harmony recommended by Eryximachus, no less than the Aristophanes" recommendation of eros as "of a half, or of a whole', is subject to the question whether "it happens to be good'. A self-harmonisation produced by techne can no more evade the sovereignty of good, than can projects of self-completion with a beloved in our likeness. Keywords: techne, telos, eros, Plato, Diotima.
This article considers the possibility of enriching the Temple tradition of Anglican social theology. The enrichment in question would involve an increased focus on the role of social enterprises, ...such as mutuals, co-operatives, community interest companies, micro-enterprises and enterprising charities; whereas the Temple tradition has previously followed William Temple himself in seeking to promote economic and social change primarily by influencing national government. The article asks to what extent this enrichment would find support in Temple's thought, and what the implications of it would be for the Temple tradition. This is explored by developing a contrast between the Temple's theology and that of John Milbank, a theologian of the Radical Orthodoxy movement. Their theologies of social enterprise are shown to have points of similarity, but also important differences, in terms of: the relation between theology and economic and social thought; the role of intermediate associations in society; and approaches to transforming markets. Milbank's theology implies proactive, deep engagement by the church in supporting existing social enterprises and originating new ones, which Temple's does not. The conclusion drawn is that an increased focus on social enterprise has some, but partial, support in Temple's theology. For the Temple tradition an increased focus on social enterprise would imply: changing the focus for dialogue and action to the civic, regional and local, rather than national, level; developing new capabilities and resources, including theological resources which are richer and more specific than Temple's middle axioms; and taking a more selective view of the role of the state.
The consensus, that Plato's Symposium is only loosely unified, with the early speeches of little interest and the speech of Alcibiades an appendix, is to be rejected. Instead, the dialogue fonns a ...complex, unified reflection on what it is for a human being to progress and on the kind of completion to be found in human life. The call to praise eros unifies the first six speeches: in the context of contemporary attacks, eros stands in need of defence. These speeches demonstrate the availability of defences, individually coherent, but mutually inconsistent, each expressing a view of the human condition. Each speech also reflects on methodology, progressively modifying encomiastic convention. Phaedrus commits to showing eros causes virtue, but a further principle is found necessary by each symposiast: specificity, completeness, understanding power, and praising characteristics directly, respectively. Socrates finds truth also necessary, but lacking in that apparently progressive sequence of defences. He follows the others' principles but in reverse order, turning things literally back to front. Socrates shows how eros leads to acts which yield a reputation for virtue in the eyes of others, and so immortality. But he then says that such virtue is a false semblance, unless someone experiences a progressive development in her own life, fonning a conception of absolute beauty. How such a person looks in the eyes of others is not said. Alcibiades' praise of .Socrates is no less a defence, since Socrates was no less under attack. A1cibiades unwittingly answers the question how Socrates looked in the eyes of others. His method, images for the sake of truth, creates a partial defence of Socrates. Alcibiades competes with Plato's whole creation, revealed as a competing set of images for the sake of a di fferent truth, about Socrates and about eros.
The consensus, that Plato's Symposium is only loosely unified, with the early speeches of little interest and the speech of Alcibiades an appendix, is to be rejected. Instead, the dialogue fonns a ...complex, unified reflection on what it is for a human being to progress and on the kind of completion to be found in human life. The call to praise eros unifies the first six speeches: in the context of contemporary attacks, eros stands in need of defence. These speeches demonstrate the availability of defences, individually coherent, but mutually inconsistent, each expressing a view of the human condition. Each speech also reflects on methodology, progressively modifying encomiastic convention. Phaedrus commits to showing eros causes virtue, but a further principle is found necessary by each symposiast: specificity, completeness, understanding power, and praising characteristics directly, respectively. Socrates finds truth also necessary, but lacking in that apparently progressive sequence of defences. He follows the others' principles but in reverse order, turning things literally back to front. Socrates shows how eros leads to acts which yield a reputation for virtue in the eyes of others, and so immortality. But he then says that such virtue is a false semblance, unless someone experiences a progressive development in her own life, fonning a conception of absolute beauty. How such a person looks in the eyes of others is not said. Alcibiades' praise of .Socrates is no less a defence, since Socrates was no less under attack. A1cibiades unwittingly answers the question how Socrates looked in the eyes of others. His method, images for the sake of truth, creates a partial defence of Socrates. Alcibiades competes with Plato's whole creation, revealed as a competing set of images for the sake of a di fferent truth, about Socrates and about eros.
Reviews Harley, J. B.; Healy, T. R.; Langford-Smith, T. ...
Australian Geographer,
19/9/1/, Letnik:
12, Številka:
4
Book Review
Recenzirano
A LA CARTE, Selected Papers and Maps and Atlases compiled by W. W. Ristow. 20½ by 26½ cms, x and 232 pages, tables, figures, illustrations, index. Library of Congress, Washington 1972 (ISBN ...0-8444-0004-1) $US5.00.
AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE PATTERNS by J. Gentilli. 14 by 2½ cms, xiv and 285 pages, tables, figures, index. Nelson, Melbourne 1972 (ISBN 0-17-004924-8) $A3.95 (limp).
COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT edited by J. F. P. Brahtz. 16 by 24 cms, xii and 352 pages, tables, figures, illustrations, index. Wiley, New York 1972 (ISBN 0-471-09575-3) $A20.50.
IMPACT OF UNCERTAINTY ON LOCATION by M. J. Webber. 15 by 24 cms, 310 pages, tables, figures, index. Australian National University Press, Canberra 1972 ($12.50).
LOCATION IN SPACE: A theoretical approach to economic geography by P. E. Lloyd and P. Dicken. 18 by 26 cms, x and 292 pages, tables, figures, index. Harper and Row, New York 1972 (ISBN 06-040641-6) $A12.20.
THE LESS DEVELOPED REALM: A Geography of its Population by G. T. Trewartha. 15 by 23 cms, xi and 449 pages, tables, figures, index. Wiley, New York 1972 (ISBN 0-471-88794-3) $A12.95; (ISBN 0-471-8795-1) $A7.95 (limp).
THE STUDY OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY by H. Carter. 15½ by 23½ cms, xiv and 346 pages, tables, figures, index. Edward Arnold, London 1972 (ISBN 0-7131-5595-7) $A14.35.
THE MERCHANT'S WORLD: The Geography of Wholesaling by James E. Vance Jr. 9 by 5½ inches, viii and 167 pages, maps, diagrams, tables. Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Foundations of Economic Geography Series, 1970, $A3.55 (Paper).
THE GEOGRAPHY OF SEA TRANSPORT by A. D. Couper. 13 by 22 cms, 208 pages. Hutchinson, London 1972 (ISBN 0-09-112850-1) $A2.75; (ISBN 0-09-112851-x) $A1.50 (limp).
PORTS AND SHIPPING by G. N. McIntyre. 17 by 24 cms, 18 pages, maps, photos, tables, Atlas of Australian Resources, second series. Department of National Development, Canberra, 2nd edn, 1971, $A0.75.
ENERGY AND POWER, A 'Scientific American' Book. 22 by 29½ cms, viii and 144 pages, diagrams, tables, photos, maps, index. Freeman, San Francisco 1971, $A3.50 (paper).
THE GEOGRAPHY OF ENERGY by Gerald Manners, 13½by 21½ cms, 222 pages, diagrams, tables, maps, index. Hutchinson University Library, London, 2nd revised edn, 1971. $NZ2.35 (paper).
TASMANIA by R. J. Solomon. 18 by 24½ cms, 95 pages, tables, figure, illustrations, index. Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1972 (ISBN 0-207-12283-0) $A2.50 (limp).
WE, THE NAVIGATORS by D. Lewis. 15 by 24 cms, xviii and 345 pages, figures, illustrations, index. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1972 (ISBN 0-7081-0396-0).
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PACIFIC, Problems of Latin America by G. J. Butland. 14 by 21½ cms, 110 pages, tables, figures, illustrations. Angus & Robertson, Sydney 1972. (ISBN 0-207-12398-5) $A3.75; (ISBN 0-207-12475-2) $A2.75 (limp).
VIEWPOINT ON INDONESIA: A GEOGRAPHICAL STUDY by G. J. Missen. 14 by 22 cms, 359 pages, tables, figures, illustrations, index. Nelson, Melbourne 1972. (ISBN 0-17-004952-3) $A4.50 (limp).
EAST ASIA: CHINA, JAPAN, KOREA, VIETNAM by A. Kolb. 19 by 25 cms, xvi and 591 pages, maps, tables, index. Methuen, London 1971. $A26.40.
SINGAPORE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA by I. Buchanan. 14 by 22 cms, 336 pages, tables, figures, illustrations, index. Bell, London 1972 (ISBN 0-7135-1656-9) $A11.60.
TRANSPORT IN THAILAND by P. J. Rimmer. 20 by 29 cms, xix and 203 pages. Department of Human Geography, Australian National University, Publication HG/6 Canberra 1971, $A2.50.
GEOGRAPHY: A MODERN SYNTHESIS by P. Haggett. 20 by 23cms, xx and 483 pages, tables, figures, illustrations, index. Harper and Rowe, New York 1972 (ISBN 0-6-042575-x) $A6.00 (limp).
A CONCISE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY edited by D. Q. Bowen et al. 15 by 23 cms, x and 338 pages, tables, figures, illustrations, index. Hulton Educational Publications, Amersham, Bucks 1972 (ISBN 0-7175-0592-8) $1.50 (limp).
THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH Volume 2 by M. J. Selby. 10 by 7 inches, iv and 437 pages, maps, diagrams, photos, index. Cassell, London 1971. Stg. £3.50.
PDF
