Eros, Agape and Philia: Readings in the Philosophy of Love

by Alan Soble

For centuries, popular writers and respected scholars have written about and analyzed the phenomenon of love without exhausting its potential for contemporary debate. By representing the three major traditions in the philosophy of love–Platonic eros, Christian agape, and Aristotelian philia–editor Alan Soble has not only examined the intellectual problem of what “love” is, but has designed a dialogue among the three traditions in genuine philosophical style. “Eros is acquisitive, egocentric or even selfish; agape is a giving love. Eros is an unconstant, unfaithful love, while agape is unwavering and continues to give despite ingratitude. Eros is a love that responds to the merit or value of its object; while agape creates value in its object as a result of loving it... Finally, eros is an ascending love, the human’s route to God; agape is a descending love, God’s route to humans... Philia is caught between eros and agape.”–From the Introduction to Eros, Agape and Philia ISSUES EXPLORED:

Genres: Philosophy, Love

330 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 1998

Reviews

[I-kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

A useful compendium representative of mostly English-speaking scholarship from last century. Editor gives critical notes for each selection and it comes with a thought-provoking appendix, a selection of literary works touching upon love and friendship. Overall helpful

[Turbulent_Architect · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very uneven collection of essays and excerpts about the philosophy of love. Even the thematic throughline about the relation between eros, agape and philia isn't really consistent. Most of the historical papers are excellent, especially the ones by Gregory Vlastos and LA. Kosman on Plato's conception of eros. Neera Badhwhar's paper on Aristotelian philia is a bit messy but worth wrestling with. Some of the more continental-oriented papers, especially the excerpt by Shulamith Firestone, are just farcical. The rest fall somewhere in between. Honestly, a lot of the material here is just outdated. A handful of the papers are still worth the read, but many, if not most, can safely be skipped.

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent collection of essays and texts on the nature of love. I found the earliest and latest texts in the collection the most helpful. Helpful for getting a lay of the land, but unfortunately fairly dated by today's standards. The arguments still hold and are interesting, but with different view of sexuality today there is a quality to some of these essays that just were not anticipating the change of views that was rapidly on the horizon.