Voltaire's Thoughts

Author: Zhang Xiuzhang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-03-01
Features: Love is so varied that it is difficult to define. The word "love" is boldly used for fleeting affections, feelings without respect, courtship towards women, indifferent habits, and romantic fantasies that start interestingly and become boring later. People use this word for thousands of things imaginable. If philosophers want to trace the roots of this almost non-philosophical concept, let them recall Plato's Symposium! At the symposium, Socrates, a man more noble than Alcibiades and Agathon in love, spoke to them about the metaphysics of love. Lucretius talked about love more like a philosopher, and Virgil followed suit.