Plato's Erotic World

Plato''s entire fictive world is permeated with philosophical concern for Eros well beyond the so-called erotic dialogues. Several metaphysical epistemological and cosmological conversations - Timaeus Cratylus Parmenides Theaetetus and Phaedo - demonstrate that Eros lies at the root of the human condition and that properly guided Eros is the essence of a life well lived. This book presents a holistic vision of Eros beginning with the presence of Eros at the origin of the cosmos and the human soul surveying four types of human self-cultivation aimed at good guidance of Eros and concluding with human death as a return to our origins. The book challenges conventional wisdom regarding the ''erotic dialogues'' and demonstrates that Plato''s world is erotic from beginning to end: the human soul is primordially erotic and the well-cultivated erotic soul can best remember and return to its origins its lifelong erotic desire.