A many splendored thing

Occasionally when reading I run across a phrase or sentence or paragraph, which really rings a bell for me. The bell may be recognition of the compatibility of the point to my own conclusions or perhaps the point caused an epiphany, or other reasons. When I encounter such a point I often copy it and store it in a file for later analysis. One such point is as follows: “Platonic idea that the giving and receiving of knowledge, the active formation of another’s character, or the more passive growth under another’s guidance, is the truest and strongest foundation of love”.

My analysis of this sentence led me down a long trail over an extended period of time to an understanding of the meaning of the statement and to an agreement with the meaning of that statement.

When studying philosophy I had read some of Plato’s work and had a slight remembrance of one of his Dialogues in which he dealt with the subject of love. After some study of the particular Dialogue in question and some further study of Plato’s general philosophy I realized what was meant by the point made in the sentence I had saved.

Plato wrote, “An unexamined life is not worth living”. I find this a bit hyperbolic but nevertheless agree with the general point. Plato also argued that the giving and receiving of knowledge, the active formation of another’s character, or the more passive growth under another’s guidance, is the truest and strongest foundation of love. Plato judged that the basis of love is centered upon the mutual struggle for truth.

I would not attempt to explain why Plato’s Idealistic philosophy leads to this conclusion but I think one can find justification for this point of view by considering the nature of the parent to progeny relationship. Considering the nature of evolution one might easily discover that the origin of love could be observed in the obvious relationship of present day mammals. The educational relationship between the animal mother and their progeny are evident to the most casual observer.

I often watch the Discovery Channel on TV. As you probably know this channel often has a great documentary on animal life. Their audio/visual presentations give the viewer wonderful insights into the life of animals. Often the animals in question are large mammals such as lions, gorillas, monkeys, etc. I find verification of Plato’s theory every time I see the relationship between mother and progeny in these documentaries.

Evolutionary Psychology is based on the theory that all human psychological traits, such as love, must be traceable to our evolutionary ancestors. The source of love in humans is evolved from the mother infant relationship in early mammals (perhaps).

I find this theory of love makes sense. Do you agree?

I find this theory of love makes sense. Do you agree?
A nicely written post. It does make sense and I do like it and believe it to be true.

I think the people that we choose to allow into our lives inevitably influence everything about us. Their thoughts, behavior and philosophy of life become a part of who we are. Life is a journey and how we shape ourselves is a choice. We find what we seek. We also must give back what has been given to us.

“Platonic idea that the giving and receiving of knowledge, the active formation of another’s character, or the more passive growth under another’s guidance, is the truest and strongest foundation of love”.

The source of love in humans is evolved from the mother infant relationship in early mammals (perhaps).

You may be over-intellectualizing love.

It's more chemical and hormonal than cognitive, for certain.
It's pheromonal.
From a love perspective pheromones are the naturally occurring substances the fertile body excretes externally, conveying an airborne message to trigger a response from the opposite sex of the same species. There are actually chemicals in the body and brain that are responsible for the physiological responses to attraction, and in the wild, allow a female to choose one male over another. (Or a male to choose one female over another.)

Scent is therefore the truest and strongest foundation of love

Just as there is something in our bodies at the genetic level that compels us to choose the ideal mate based upon their scent, there is something pheromonal in mothers that enables them to pick their young out of a crowd from a great distance. A mother mammal can distinguish her young from a pack of other young like-appearing creatures, just by their scent.

I love my own child, though I can barely tolerate most other children.
Reason? She's my child, and she smells like my child.

I love my wife like I've never loved any other creature on this earth.
Reason? She and I are genetically predisposed to love each other, (and more importantly perhaps, to produce genetically-viable offspring) and we smell really good to each other.

Back to the original point;
What would Freud make of your Oedipal associations and allusions regarding love, I wonder?
:eek: :confused: :rolleyes:

Romantic love is an emotion that really didn't exist until people started having more time than they knew what to do with. Once that starts happening, people start thinking all sorts of ideas that never really occur when you're kept busy for ninety percent of your time just trying to survive.

I think that we have taken a very basic emotion and indiscriminately forced all kinds of nonsense into its container. We use this basic emotion to sell cars and houses and shoes and patriotism and all kinds of things in order to manipulate the citizens into doing what those with the power want us to do. This concept we call love is one of many that form the cape that the Matador uses to manipulate the foolish bull.