Thread: the philosophy of Erotics

last week i read symposium by plato. in that there is a conversation between diotima and socrates on the nature of eros and erotics. diotima taught socrtes about erotics. she started by stating the birth of eros. eros is the son of poros (resource) and penia ( poverty). because of this generation eros is poor and needy ( from mother penia) and he traps the beautiful and good ( from father poros). eros is not beautiful at all. he is a hunter, philosopher, magician, druggist and sophist. this is the mythological description of eros.

now how eros affects mind? eros raises the desire of beautiful in men. today in the world everybody is looking for beauty of some sort. nobody is looking for uglyness. people fight for a beautiful life, a beautiful woman etc. so eros is very essence of people irrespective of age, race, gender etc.

now the question why is this desire for beauty? the answer is that man wants to give birth in beauty. why? because only by giving birth a man can preserve his features. how? men's physical beauty will wane. but some of this physical beauty passed on to his offspring. thats how a man can preserve his physical features through generation.

now how one can learn erotics? first one must saw beautiful bodies. then he adores at least one body. he first love the beauty in flesh. then he must understand the beauty in soul/mind and consider it more honorable than beauty in flesh. later he will seek beauty in everything: science, arts, commerce etc. untill he finds an eternal beauty: beauty that never wanes nor born : full beauty. this is the pinnacle of erotics. in this pinnacle one should know what beauty itself is. then he will see beauty everywhere. this is the life worth living.

this is what diotima taught socrates about erotics. it is quite different from how the word erotics is used today. i think this is the real meaning of erotics with all its splendor.

What are you using for the current definition of erotic?

Originally Posted by Paleoichneum

What are you using for the current definition of erotic?

eros is the desire for beautful and erotics is the study of beauty: what beauty is? where it is in all things etc.

no, I mean what is the "false" definition that you're contrasting your definition with?

What do you think the modern Mainstream definition is.

Originally Posted by Paleoichneum

no, I mean what is the "false" definition that you're contrasting your definition with?

What do you think the modern Mainstream definition is.

what people today means by erotics? only sexy body, naked body, sexy outfit etc. this is beauty in flesh which is very gross. but the beauty diotima talked about in symposium and which i support is the beauty of a very subtle nature. the beauty is something which is eternal and omnipresent. this is a very subtle thing.

this is the difference. only a hardcore practitioner of erotics will understand the beauty which diotima taught socrates and i support.

So because you do not find beauty in nudity, then the modern definition of erotic is wrong, and all who do are considered gross. Opinion of lgbt people?

this is beauty in flesh which is very gross

strange

hmmmmmmmmmm
current view?

erotic having to do with sexual excitation, arousal
sensual having to do with the appreciation of the beauty of a nude(vs naked) human body
important destinctions for figurative artist

beauty is truth, truth is beauty
appreciation of and creation of positive aesthetics lead to a positive mind
a positive mind leads to great and beautiful works
great and beautiful works lead to a positive mind

the opposite spiral is also true

Funnily enough, I have no inclination to "fight for .... a beautiful woman".

And I do like the idea that "a man" is the one who "wants to give birth in beauty" so that he can "preserve his features". We know women can't do this because they're the "poor and needy ( from mother penia)". /snark off

Where is the personal and intimate desire to produce children as a commitment to family life here?Where is the notion of sensual and sexual engagement which leads to the birth of children. (Which gives rise to a lot of beautiful and moving visual art all of its own - lovers, mother and child, funeral sculpture.)

I'm only surprised there isn't some 17th century reference here to human reproduction being about a woman incubating a homunculus.

I'd be (vaguely) interested in discussing the relationships between concepts of aesthetics and erotica, but this is a very poor start.

Originally Posted by adelady

I'm only surprised there isn't some 17th century reference here to human reproduction being about a woman incubating a homunculus.
.

Hey you got a problem with pygmys or dwarfs?

Problem? Preformationism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by adelady

Problem? Preformationism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well why not? After all, it appears we evolved from millimeter sized ancestors: Improbable Research: Chonosuke Okamura, Visionary

(It must be true, I read it on the web.)

Contemplating preformationism---
a miniature me in one of daddy's sperm, kinda makes mom superfluous.
OK
(psst don't tell mom)

xxx200.....It looks to me like you've read something and just paraphrased what you know. Try and apply it to something, like erotics maybe. I see nothing of what you personally think about the whole situation. You're giving us a play by play of what happened in the book. Means nothing, a big fat zero on a philosophy paper.

Why does this particular literary segment on eroticism arouse an interest within your mind?

Looks like XXX200 has abandoned this thread? :-/