Philosophy of Love
Owing to the centrality and influence of love in human experience, women and men throughout the ages have had a compulsion to write verse, sing songs and tell stories. Essentially, the human experience of love reveals that it is a mysterious and ineffable force, which leads people to depths of despair and peaks of felicity. Love is the principle that underpins all human activity, the cause of human striving, which naturally results in the need to examine it judiciously (Plato, Nehamas and Woodruff, 1989, p. 6). Because of the complexity in the nature of love, Plato tries to explain its dimensions to unravel the underlying truth regarding its existence and function. Certainly, Love indeed is the ultimate goal, if not the ultimate, human concern characteristic of healthy relationships.
The relationships we develop with other people are the exact projections of relationships that we have within ourselves. In most cases, people fail to understand that the internal and external relationships are, in fact, the same. Maybe, a distinction is only possible when people fail to look at such relations from a common point of view. The question Plato asks is, “where do all the internal and external relationships exist?” Logically, the platonic view of the existence of love attests to the fact that love exists in peoples’ thoughts (Plato, Nehamas and Woodruff, 1989, p. 8). Typically, a person’s relationship with another includes what he thinks about the other person and what that individual thinks of him. Alternatively, people can complicate this further by viewing themselves through imaginations of what others think of them. All those internal imaginations and representations are what shape the nature of human relationships.
Platonic love refers to the non-sexual relationship between heterosexual individuals. Accordingly, love can be described as a desire- this articulates a presupposition that attests to the fact that human beings are acquisitive (Plato, Nehamas and Woodruff, 1989, p. 23). Life of human beings is all about a continuous search for things that work in a way to satisfy their needs, thus provide happiness. In addition, desiring refers to urge that people have within themselves in order to gain something good. In terms of the platonic explanations on desires, it is evident that whatever a person does strive for or desires as a direct circuitous means towards acquiring goodness. Noticing that Plato believes that everything including human beings strives for the achievement of some good, the whole universe appears to be in love. Indeed, it is love, which makes the world to revolve, without which nothing can exist.
The ultimate reality according to Plato does not refer to the world that people perceive through their senses, but some forms or ideas- eternal entities. Plato describes love as the source of the greatest gifts of life and which dwells at the heart of every good deed and noble act (Plato, Nehamas and Woodruff, 1989, p. 23). In essence, love is the motivating power that is needed to win and maintain intimate human relationships.
A pertinent element of Lugones’s argument focuses on the concept of “arrogant perception” (Lugones, 2003, p. 77). In essence, this means that to perceive others arrogantly entail perceiving them with a view that they are for oneself, and proceeding to arrogate their experience to oneself. Typically, the aforementioned statement means that the arrogant perception of an individual is characterized by one dimension. That means, seeing a person as a stereotype or in a manner, that does not consider the complexity of the individual and his experiences. Moreover, the arrogant perception fails to recognize the possibility of a multidimensional subject. Concisely, this represents a way of interpreting a person in a manner that is intelligible to oneself. Precisely, the arrogant perception points to the assessment of oneself or another person through the eyes of the oppressor.
Additionally, Lugones makes a connection between the failure to identify and arrogant connection with the individual one perceives arrogantly. When people learn and adopt the habit of perceiving others arrogantly, they fail to identify and fall in love with such people. In fact, Lugones holds a view that women often have their gazes fixed on the oppressor while another injunction keeps them off from making a connection with each other in resistance. Illustratively, it is part of vying taught to be a woman- to be both the object and agent of arrogant perception (Lugones, 2003, p. 80).
Certainly, the relationship of Lugones with her mother attests the phenomena of arrogant perception. Interestingly, she reveals the struggle she had to love her mother. While loving is one thing, the philosophers explain that most people translate it to mean that whatever the loved ones experienced will be encountered by the person loving. For example, Lugones mother was the object of abuses, and this made Lugones develop a sense that if she identifies with her mother, then most likely she will also experience the same abuses.
More often than not, women who are perceived arrogantly develop a habit to perceive others with a similar measure of arrogance. Notably, Lugones is the object of arrogant perception because she is oppressed, stereotyped as a woman, and a woman of color. Additionally, perceiving others arrogantly is not a conscious choice for wom, but instead it reveals a situation in which women have no option other than to perceive others arrogantly because they consider that they are also subjects of arrogant perception from others. Accordingly, there is a need to find a way of escaping the seductive draw of arrogant perception and develop a way that women of all color and shapes can perceive one another.
Further, the concept of “worlds” and “world”-travelling is core in the philosophical explanation of the meaning and nature of love. Pertinently, a world in this case does not refer to the utopian theory but instead it emphasizes that a world must be real and possible rather than being imagined. Notably, the world concept may refer to the dominant culture construction and description of life or a society. In addition, it is important to note that a world may not necessarily be a construction of the whole society but sometimes it may represent a minority of the dominant society. Similarly, an individual does not have to consider oneself a member of a given world in order to be classified as a subject with a particular world.
Essentially, a world traveler is someone who knows how to adjust oneself in order to fit different “worlds.” In most cases, people tend to change how they behave, express emotions and conduct themselves depending on the particular environments they occupy at a given time. Usually, the person one becomes in front of parents is totally different and contrasting with the one he becomes when with friends. Thus, this reveals an understanding of oneself that the two worlds are different and require a person who can suit to their expectations.
While world travelling may be a way of being at ease with oneself and others, playfulness is needed for effective travelling across worlds. Often, uncertainty accompanies playfulness in the sense that the winner and the losers are seldom obvious. In addition, playfulness is best practicable through adherence to specific rules without which one becomes less playful. The agonistic traveler refers to a “conqueror or an imperialist” who only causes violence to her worlds in an attempt to assimilate, conquer, assimilate, or make them disappear (Lugones, 2003, p. 94). Surely, one needs to drop such an attitude in order to cross the boundary towards a different world to experience love.
In an attempt to take a hold of one’s relations and oneself in a particular world, an individual must examine and understand oneself. Moreover, one may see the possibilities for being playful once in a particular world (Lugones, 2003, p. 95). Furthermore, an individual is required to inhabit a self in order to fully understand its creative possibilities.
The value of human relationship is that they act as indicators to unconditional love. Accordingly, when an individual avoids the arrogant perception and accepts to travel to other worlds with some degree of playfulness, he/she will learn to accept, forgive and love all other human beings as well as love oneself. Typically, the more an individual improves the internal relationships between beliefs, thoughts and intentions, the more harmonious and loving one’s human relationships become.
In conclusion, the experience of love reveals that it is a mysterious and ineffable force, which leads people to depths of despair and peaks of felicity. The ultimate reality according to Plato does not refer to the world that people perceive through their senses, but some forms or ideas- eternal entities. The relationships we develop with other people are the exact projections of relationships that we have within ourselves. Certainly, Love indeed is the ultimate goal, if not the ultimate, human concern characteristic of healthy relationships
References
Lugones, M. (2003). Playfulness, ‘World’-Traveling, and Loving Perception.”. InPilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition Against Multiple Oppressions. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Plato., Nehamas, A., & Woodruff, P. (1989). Symposium. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co.
