We explain what platonic love is, its characteristics and how psychology understands it. Also, what Plato thought about love.
What is platonic love?
Nowadays, when we talk about platonic love we generally refer to an idealized feeling of attraction, devoid of sexual and erotic overtones often unrealizable or difficult to materialize, sometimes even unrequited. Its name is due to the fact that This is an erroneous but popular interpretation of Plato's philosophical theories regarding love which proposed a love based on virtue and not on physical attractions.
Platonic loves are, as they are understood today, typical of childhood and adolescence, especially before the awakening of sexuality. They are infatuations provided with an important charge of naivety, innocence and admiration, which are usually felt for idealized figures such as showbiz stars, popular artists or authority figures, or for individuals with whom one rarely has intimacy.
The expression “platonic love” was coined by the English poet and playwright William Davenant (1606-1668), author of the play “The Platonick Lovers” (1636), where he refers to Plato's famous banquet, an ancient writing that presents love as the birth of truth and virtues. The term, however, was later used as a synonym for courtly love or idealized love, whose sexual consummation is eternally postponed, and even throughout the 19th century as a euphemism for homosexual love.
See also: Love
Characteristics of platonic love
In general, platonic love is characterized by the following:
- Born from feelings of frank admiration devoid of malice, selfishness and sexual desire. That is, it is not a passionate and libidinal love, but rather an idealized form of romantic attraction.
- It is associated with late childhood and early adolescence and may or may not be reciprocated. The most common thing, however, is that these are idealizations that do not truly seek to become reality.
- It is often synonymous with courtly love or gallant love in which the purity of feelings is preserved by postponing erotic or sexual consummation indefinitely. That is, a high love, without a body.
- Your boundaries with friendship are blurry and in many cases it can be a type of friendly relationship that prevents the appearance of eroticism (especially in the heterosexual sphere).
- It is not a faithful understanding of what Plato expressed (c. 427-347 BC) regarding love.
Love for Plato
According to what Plato, ancient Greek philosopher, wrote in his work The banquet, A distinction must be made between erotic and sexual love and ideal love (that is, the platonic). The latter constitutes an entirely different type of attraction, based on the pursuit of beauty, truth and virtue, that is, knowledge.
For this, love must surpass the mere observation of physical beauty, to transcend towards spiritual beauty and finally towards “pure” beauty, that is, knowledge itself, the beauty of the arts and sciences. Hence it is called “ideal love”, since it is a love that occurs on the level of the mind and ideas, and not merely on the body. platonic love It is the love for the beauty and perfection of ideas, concepts and forms.
Plato puts in Socrates the distinction between carnal love, which unites human beings and animals, and the love of the soul, typical of human beings and virtue. To do this, he speaks of two types of “pregnancy” that are the fruit of love: the pregnancy of the body, which brings human children into the world, is the fruit of the love of the body; while the pregnancy of the soul, which brings virtue and beauty to the world, is typical of ideal love, that is, of what will later be called “Platonic love.”
Platonic love in psychology
In psychology, platonic love is understood as a type of relationships typical of the childhood and adolescent stages of the human being since shyness, introversion and emotional inhibition are typically manifested in them. On the other hand, its appearance In adult contexts it may rather constitute a mechanism for the dispersion of sexual tension between two individuals, that is, platonic love relationships are built to prevent the eventual consummation of an underlying sexual attraction.
Plato's phrases about love
Some phrases about love that are attributed to this ancient Greek philosopher are:
- “Love consists of feeling that the sacred being beats within the loved one.”
- “Love is the joy of good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the gods.”
- “…The straight path of love, whether guided by itself or guided by another, is to begin with the lower beauties and rise to the supreme beauty.”
- “There is no man so cowardly that love cannot make him brave and turn him into a hero.”
- “Where love reigns, laws are unnecessary.”
- “The gods have given us two wings to fly to them: love and reason.”
Continue with: Interpersonal relationships
References
- “Platonic love” on Wikipedia.
- “What is platonic love?” (video) on Playground.
- “Love according to Plato” in Tigris Magazine.
- “Platonic love (philosophy)” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
