Greek Civilization and Platonic Love

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Greek Civilization and Platonic Love

• Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D.
• GSTR 220-BWestern Traditions I
• Berea College
• Fall 2003

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FOUNDATIONS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION

• Minoan civilization (Crete, c. 2800-1450 BCE)
  Mediterranean island kingdom
• Mycenaean civilization (Peloponnesus, c.
  1600-1100 BCE) coalition of small, warlike
  communities
• Dark Age civilization (Ionia, c. 1100-750 BCE)
  famine and war lead to colonization of
  Mediterranean islands and Turkish coast age of
  Homers Iliad and Odyssey

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THE RISE OF THE POLIS

• By 700s BCE, polis (settlement and its
  surrounding countryside) becomes most important
  unit of Greek civilization
• Each polis was governed by free adult males
  (other residents women, children, slaves, and
  resident aliens)
• By 500s BCE, replacement of aristocratic
  dictatorships (tyranny) with government by
  randomly-chosen male representatives of local
  districts (democracy)
• One polis in particular, Athens, rises to
  prominence following its defeat of Persian
  (Iranian) invaders (c. 490-470 BCE)

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PRELUDE TO PLATONISM

• Pre-5th century BCE Greek worldview
• Agonistic social status (arête) based on
  individual competition
• Agricultural concern for fertility of soil and
  people
• Fatalistic value of accepting events in ones
  life without complaint
• Patriarchal society ruled by propertied male
  warrior class
• Polytheistic multiple gods control universe and
  must be appeased through sacrifices and festivals
  (e.g., Olympic Games)

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5th CENTURY BCE ATHENS

• Athens power, stability, and wealth enables
  artists and intellectuals to thrive
• Drama (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides,
  Aristophanes)
• Architecture (The Parthenon)
• Sculpture
• Philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle)
• 3 cardinal values emerge
• Humanism -- Is there anything more wonderful on
  earth, our marvelous planet, than the miracle of
  man? (Sophocles)
• Naturalism The chief good is life according to
  nature. (Zeno of Citium)
• Skepticism -- The unexamined life is not worth
  living. (Socrates)

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PLATO (429-347 BCE)

• Born into aristocratic Athenian family
• Student of Socrates (469-399 BCE), Athenian
  philosopher executed for corrupting youth
• Wrote numerous dialogues in which Socrates
  appears as both historical figure and mouthpiece
  for Platos views
• Hoped to improve society by uniting philosophical
  sophistication and political power in the person
  of a philosopher-king
• Founded The Academy, a philosophical school in
  Athens in which many young men (including
  Aristotle, 384-322 BCE) studied

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THE PLATONIC UNIVERSE

• Cosmic dualism
• The World of Forms (perfect, eternal, real
  expression of ideals e.g., beauty or truth)
• The World of Senses (imperfect, temporary, unreal
  manifestation of ideals e.g., beauty as
  captured in sculpture, truth as grasped by
  Socrates)
• Allegory of the Cave cave residents see
  shadows cast by objects and sunlight outside cave
  and mistake them for reality

• Social stratification
• Naturally oriented toward hierarchical divisions
  (e.g., male/female, free/slave, ruler/subject)
• Ideally meritocratic (opportunity and power given
  to those most intellectually capable of wielding
  it responsibly)
• Necessarily limited in terms of freedom (because
  only the wise can be free, since they alone do
  what is good out of love for the good, not fear
  of punishment)

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PLATONIC LOVE

• Male-female relationships
• Service-oriented (e.g., childbearing,
  prostitution)
• Fundamentally unequal (most men intellectually
  superior to most women)
• Male-male relationships
• Exchange-oriented (e.g., lovers wisdom for
  beloveds beauty)
• Not necessarily sexual, and never exclusively so
• Transformative (e.g., beloved grows in arête)
• Marriage indispensable, but usually arranged,
  seldom for love
• Romance (for men) found with female prostitutes
  and young men

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