Platons demoniska Eros i dialogerna Faidros och Gästabudet

Sammanfattning:

The purpose of the current study is to present an interpretation of Eros and its demonical aspect as it is described in Plato’s dialogues Phaedrus and The Symposium as well as to attempt to throw some light over the question in which way the erotic as such influences Plato’s notion of how to pursue philosophy. In the first part of the essay an account is given of the Platonic Eros as a unifying element and as striving for being. I defend the position that in the context of the interpreted dialogues philosophy is thought of as an erotic enterprise which takes place as a coming closer to the object of love. This coming closer takes place as remembering in Phaedrus and as creating in beauty in The Symposium. Further I suggest that the creative activity in which the philosophical lover is involved lets a certain demonic time arise. In the second part of the study I change perspective and look at the erotic desire as a twofold process. In order to clarify the underlying dynamics in this process I introduce the concept of demonic appeal. The erotic desire takes place according to this twofold structure as a demonic appeal on the side of the beloved which gives rise to an erotic striving on the side of the lover. The lover is pulled towards the beloved which is perceived by the lover as something demonic, as the effect of a foreign commanding power over him. What pulls the lover towards itself is the beautiful and I argue that the beautiful is the way in which being appears to the philosophic lover. In the last part of this section I discuss the consequences of this way of appearing of being for Plato’s thinking. In the third and last part of this study I focus on mindfulness of one’s erotic desires as the necessary condition for initiation of philosophic life. I maintain that the purpose of mindfulness according to the dialogues is the attainment of freedom and a reflective stance in respect to one’s desires.