Eros Unveiled by Catherine Osborne
Few books on love can claim to make significant contributions to our understanding both of ancient views on eros and its place in the Christian tradition. On the basis of a new and sympathetic reading of Plato, Catherine Osborne shows that the long-standing distrust of eros, rather than agape, as a model for the believer's relation to God in Christian thought derives from a misunderstanding of ancient thought on love. Focusing on a number of classic texts, including Plato's Symposium and Lysis, Aristotle's Ethics and Metaphysics, and famous passages in Gregory of Nyssa, Origen, Dionysius the Areopagite, Plotinus, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas, she shows that love is not motivated by a need that seeks fulfilment. On the contrary, Dr Osborne argues, to seek a motive for love, whether in Plato's account or our own, is to pursue a philosophical confusion. To mention love is to mention the motive that explains our response of affection or devotion or desire; the response cannot be the motive for our love, but is an attitude that belongs in a vision of the beloved transfigured by love. It is for this reason that we have to restore the image of Cupid, whose mischievous darts picture the impossiblity of seeking some further grounds or explanation for love.
Osborne's approach- the question, 'who loves whom, and for what'- represents an entirely fresh approach to ancient views on eros and its place in the Christian tradition..This is an unusual book in almost every respect...Osborne's style is engaging, what she has to say original, and her reading of anicent texts topples old hypotheses and provides new ones for consideration. They deserve to be considered. * Studies in Christian Ethics *
Osborne's book is a useful contribution to the cross-disciplinary study of concepts of love in both ancient and medieval thought, and may profitably be read by philosophers, theologians, and historians. * Ancient Philosophy *
Osborne's book is a useful contribution to the cross-disciplinary study of concepts of love in both ancient and medieval thought, and may profitably be read by philosophers, theologians, and historians. * Ancient Philosophy *
Catherine Osborne has been a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, Norwich (since 2003), Reader in the School of Archaeology, Classics, and Oriental Studies at the University of Liverpool from 2000 to 2003, and before that Reader in the Department of Philosophy at the University
of Wales, Swansea. Her publications include Rethinking Early Greek Philosophy (1987) and Eros Unveiled: Plato and the God of Love (1994), as well as the chapter on Heraclitus in the Routledge History of Philosophy, Volume 1 and many articles on a wide range of issues in Ancient Philosophy from the
Presocratics to the Early Christian period.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780198267669 |
| ISBN 10 | 0198267665 |
| Title | Eros Unveiled |
| Author | Catherine Osborne |
| Series | Clarendon Paperbacks |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 1996-04-25 |
| Number of pages | 260 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |