The Philosophy of (Erotic) Love [Paperback]

Robert C. Solomon (Editor), Kathleen M. Higgins (Editor), Arthur Coleman Danto (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0700604804 | ISBN-13: 978-0700604807 | Publication Date: March 1991

Stand still, and I will read to thee A lecture, Love, in love's philosophy. --John Donne

What does philosophy know of love? From Plato on, philosophers have struggled to pin love to the dissecting table and view it in the cold light of logic. Yet, as Arthur Danto writes in the foreword to this volume, "how incorrigibly stiff philosophy is when it undertakes to lay its icy fingers on the frilled and beating wings of the butterfly of love."

Love, elusive and philosophically intractable as it is, has long fascinated philosophers. In this collection of classic and modern writings on the topic of erotic love, Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins have chosen excerpts from the great philosophical texts and combined them with the most exciting new work of philosophers writing today.

The result is a broadly conceived, comprehensive, and important work, nearly as stimulating and provocative as love itself. It examines the mysteries of erotic love from a variety of philosophical perspectives and provides an impressive display of the wisdom that the world's best thinkers have brought, and continue to bring, to the study of love.

In the end one loves one's desire and not what is desired.--Friedrich Nietzsche

Free love? As if love is anything but free!--Emma Goldman

I know of no more frequently cited word than love . . . Shouldn't this support the suspicion, along with rump-shaped hearts on bumper stickers . . . that in our language there may be no more bankrupt a word? Still these days bankruptcy does not prevent one from continuing to do very profitable business.--William Gass

Love is a kind of war, and no assignment for cowards.--Ovid

Every man carries within him the eternal image of woman . . . Even if no woman existed, it would still be possible to deduce from this unconscious image exactly how a woman would have to be constituted physically.--Carl Jung

Love as a virtue? The passion that makes fools of us all and has led to the demise of Anthony, Cleopatra, young Romeo, Juliet and King Kong? Love is nice but it is not a virtue. Maybe it is not even nice.--Robert C. Solomon

Contributions from: Plato, Sappho, Theano, Ovid, Heloise and Abelard, Andreas Capellanus, William Shakespeare, John Milton, Baruch Spinoza, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, G.W.F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Stendhal, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Carol Jung, Karen Horney, D. H. Lawrence, Emma Goldmann, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone deBeauvoir, Philip Slater, Shulamith Firestone, Irving Singer, Martha Nussbaum, Jerome Neu, Louis Mackey, Amelie Rorty, Elizabeth Rapaport, Kathryn Pauly Morgan, Robert Nozick, Annette Baier, William Gass, Larry Thomas, Ronald de Sousa, Robert C. Solomon.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Stunning! This brilliant interdisciplinary collection is as provocative, enchanting, and richly rewarding as its topic. Unrivaled in scope and richness, blending classic and contemporary readings on love, here is a wellspring of insights-for scholars, students, and general readers alike."--Mike W. Martin, author of Self-Deception and Morality

About the Author

Robert C. Solomon is Quincy Lee Centennial Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. Among his most important publications are Love: Emotion, Myth, and Metaphor; About Love: Reinventing Romance for Our Times; and The Passions.

Kathleen M. Higgins is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of The Music of Our Lives and Nietzsche's Zarathustra.

Product Details

• Paperback: 536 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700604804
• ISBN-13: 978-0700604807
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

G. Lee Bowie received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Stanford University and has taught at University of Michigan, University of Mass, Amherst College, and Hampshire College. Currently he is Professor of Philosophy at Mount Holyoke College. Meredith W. Michaels received a Ph.D. in philosophy (with Clancy Martin), ETHICS AND EXCELLENCE, THE JOY OF PHILOSOPHY, and TRUE TO OUR FEELINGS, and he was co-editor of TWENTY QUESTIONS, Fifth Edition (with Lee Bowie and Meredith Michaels), and SINCE SOCRATES (with Clancy Martin).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally applicable through the centuries...., April 5, 2000

By 

Jennifer Conrady - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Philosophy of (Erotic) Love (Paperback)

For those of you who are interested in philospohy in general, this book is an excellent collection of briefs from philosphers from Plato to Firestone. The most interesting aspect of this text is that it addresses the subject that most philosophy books refuse to touch upon - LOVE. Most often, philosophers are associated with their views on religion, politics, or the basic human existence. This book is such a great treat to read because of the subject matter. Love is a subject in which we can all relate. The book is approximately 3 inches thick, with excerpts from many different philosophers, but the great thing is that you can pick it up at your leisure, read a few different excerpts, ponder the subject of love, and put the book back down. It is not a book that you read cover to cover. Another interesting aspect of the book is that no matter what your views on love or romantic love are, you will find essays that will either reinforce your views of the matter, or challenge your present thinking of the subject of love. It covers topics such as misogyny, feminism, romantic love, marriage as more of a friendship than a romantic love, etc. I have been tickled, angered, saddened, pleased, and intrigued by this book. SO much so , that I have recommended it to friend after friend, and all have enjoyed it. It is not necessary that you be a student of philosophy to understand this book. You just need to misunderstand love to gain from it's teachings. I believe you will enjoy this book for years to come. I know I have.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Diverse Notions of Eros, August 31, 2004

By 

Thomas J. Oord (Nampa, ID United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Philosophy of (Erotic) Love (Paperback)

This volume is one of the very best for its presentation of the wide varieties of writings about erotic love. The text is divided into four parts. The first includes classic writings on erotic love from authors living prior to the 20th century. Included among the authors are: Plato, Sappho, Theno, Ovid, Augustine, Heliose and Abelard, Andreas Capellanus, Shakespeare, John Milton, Spinoza, Rousseau, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Stendahl, and Nietzsche.

The second part of the book includes classic writings on love from those in the 20th century. Included here are the writings of Freud, Jung, Karen Horney, Rainer Maria Rilke, Emma Goldman, Denis de Rougemont, D. H. Lawrence, Sartre, Simon de Beauvoir, Philip Slater, and Shulamith Firestone.

The third section of the book offers contemporary essays that advance theories and notions proposed by authors of antiquity. Writers included in this part are the following: Irving Singer, Martha Nussbaum, Jerome Neu, Louis Mackey, Emelie Rorty, Elizabeth Rappaport, Kathryn Pauly Morgan.

The fourth part of the book includes essays that are more theoretical, including a number of new attempts to define and understand love. Authors in this section include Robert Nozick, Annette Baier, William Gass, Laurence Thomas, Ronald de Sousa, Robert C. Solomon.

Thomas Jay Oord

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Survey of Romantic-Erotic Love, March 22, 2006

By 

D. S. Heersink "D. Stephen Heersink" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Philosophy of (Erotic) Love (Paperback)

Solomon, the Anglo-American philosopher, who takes Continental philosophy seriously, is the editor here, not the author. This wonderfully eclectic book surveys the Western perspectives on romantic and erotic love, starting in antiquity and continuing up to the modern day. While the focus is principally philosophical, other fields of inquiry like psychology, literature, and theology are included: E.g., Plato, Augustine, Milton, Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Freud, etc. I couldn't imagine a better selection of primary texts.

Certainly, the primary intent of the book is to offer a comprehensive survey of romantic and erotic love for students enrolled in a philosophy of sex course. No better book exists for providing primary texts on this subject. (Cf., Sobel's "Philosophy of Sex.") But, in a general sense, we're all students of philosophy, and of all of philosophy's myriad disciplines, certainly love is the subject of widest appeal. In other words, this book is by no means limited to academia, although that's it's target market. We're all students of love.

Unfortunately, the best writer on the subject of romantic and erotic love is our editor. Solomon's own book titled "Love" is absolutely extraordinary (see, separate review). But that doesn't make this present volume any less valuable. In fact, I think that "Love" will be better understood, having this contextual survey under one's belt. Solomon's variety of primary texts is so diverse and highly representative that it's appeal should extend to all inquiries on romantic and erotic love.