The Concept of Platonic and Modern Sexuality - Essay Example

– Meghana Nerikar Love of ancient – Love of modern An Essay on the Concept of Platonic and modern sexuality ‘The Second Sex’ is the significantcontribution of Simone de Beauvoir who is mainly supposed to be the highly intellectual philosopher of 20th century and the originator of feminist existential phenomenology. According to Simone de Beauvoir the term gender study is basically concerned with the social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities. Debra Bergoffen one of the eminent feminist writer points out that Beauvoir was a philosopher who has involved in the philosophical discussion of her own time. According to Bergoffen Even though the work of Beauvoir is influenced by Sartre, one such unique facet has keep herself isolated from the style of Sartre and that is her generosity which is the focus of Beauvoir’s ethical position. Passion and extremism have made this book the significant as well as original. (The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir, Gendered Phenomenology, Erotic Generosities) points out the different sources of Beauvoir’s philosophical positions. Bergoffen in the above book has analyzed two streams of thoughts i.e. two voices. One is dominant philosophical and existential while the other is muted voice which operates as the margins of Beauvoir’s primary philosophical identity. Here we are going to study the theme of sexual relationship of man and woman from different feminist’s writers’ point of view. Introduction Man and woman relationship has been the engrossing subject of study and many philosophers and critics. The aim of this topic is to discuss and compare the platonic love with the love from modern feminist point of view. In this topic we have considered the different perspectives of love from different writers and philosophers. Plato’s philosophical work called ‘Symposium’ discusses this theme through very thought provoking dialogues. It is a conversation and a type of debate which is happening between Socrates and a lady called Diotima. Here she explains the extent of love. Diotima is very philosophical and abstract in her view and she has exalted attitudes towards love. According to her love between man and woman is divine and very beautiful. ‘It is immortality in a mortal creature.’ (“Symposium” page 49) Diotima opines that the real object of sexuality is to give birth. Sexual love is the medium which Nature uses for this same purpose. Thus the purpose of love is very noble and that is the reproduction. While describing about the difference between physical beauty and intellectual beauty Diotima argues that intellectuality plays a vital role. The person who realizes the importance of beauty can give birth to the beautiful and reasoning and thinking. Naturally whatever he produces is virtuous. Love is beautiful and its beauty lies not in physical things but it is immortal. ‘Not beauty tainted by human flesh and coloring and all that mortal rubbish, but absolute beauty divine and constant?’ (Symposium page 55, 56). According to Diotima love and sexual intimacy between man and woman is always beautiful, harmonious and divine. One of the modern feminists, Luce Irigaray has criticized the Platonic ideas. In her book, ‘Sorcerer Love,’ she explains that Diotima’s thoughts about love were not dialectical from modern point of view. Irigaray here tells that love is the means of knowledge. Diotima has told that love is the offspring of plenty and poverty. Naturally it is the combination of both good and bad thing. Love’s aim is to realize the immortal in the mortal between lovers. According to Irigaray Diothima’s teaching seems to be dialectical but not from modern point of view. while criticizing platonic love Irigaray asserts that in stead of living the child to ripen in the milieu of love between man and women Diothima seeks the cause for love in the animal world that is procreation and leads love split between mortality and immortality. ( page 27, ‘Ethics of Sexual Differences) The Love Theme of Simone de Beauvoir While differentiating the love of woman to that of man, Beauvoir points out that the love of woman is always more intense than that of man. This intensity according to Beauvoir comes out of her insecurity and incompleteness. It has been the psychology of the woman that she cannot be a completed person without man’s help. In the childhood everybody feels safe and secure. Due to the feeling of dependability she constantly tries to find the same security and safe life of her childhood and according to Simone de Beauvoir the obsession for love in case of the woman comes from the willingness of security and it is definitely not due to the desire for men. The cuteness, delicacy her charming appearance are the parameters decided for the feminine beauty but they are a symbol of dependability. If she dedicates herself fully to the man she is adored by the society and rewarded for her loyalty and honesty towards her husband. Hence it becomes a necessity for her. Here Beauvoir takes into consideration both the religious and romantic woman. In this context she writes, “In both women, there is the same dream, the childhood dream, the mystic dream, the dream of love: to attain supreme existence through losing oneself to other.” (Page 649) The woman looks at the concept of love in a very different perception. For her love is more than a sex. Love is not related only with the libido from her point of view but it is close with the human soul. It is similar to religious devotion for her. De Beauvoir here points out the general female mentality. She has a dream from her childhood to attain the love which is related to the sacrifice. She herself wishes to relinquish herself for the sake of her man. Here Beauvoir writes, “Many examples have already told us that this dream of the annihilation of the self is in fact an avid will to exist.” (“Second Sex” Page 646). Beauvoir’s Concept of Real and Authentic Love Discussing about the Beauvoir’s attitude towards authentic love Vintges Karmen in her book ‘Philosophy as Passion,’ propounds that the real and authentic love can only exist in freedom. “Genuine love ought to be founded on the mutual recognition of two liberties; the lovers would then experience themselves both as self and as other; neither would give up transcendence, neither would be mutilated; together they would manifest values and aims in the world. For the one and the other, love would be revelation of self by the gift of self and enrichment of the world.” ( page no -667 “Second Sex”) About talking real love Beauvoir considers both psychological and sexual love. Along with the union of two bodies the man and woman must come in contact with each other’s consciousness. Physical love is the theme of Beauvoir’s work. According to Beauvoir the love is nothing but a generosity, generosity of body as well as mind. Beauvoir was criticized by many people for accepting Satire’s philosophy but Karmen does not agree to this attitude. According to her Beauvoir has opposed Satire’s negative attitude on the point of emotions. On the other hand in Beauvoir’s work the emotions appear as psychological positive act of consciousness. Sexual love is not only the contact of two different body but it the contact with the consciousness of each other. “Body and consciousness become a unity when consciousness is absorbed into the body.” (‘Place for Love’ Page 47). In this context one more example here I would like to reveal is that the philosophy of Osho Rajnish, one of the Indian philosopher. In his famous and controversial book ‘From Sex to Super- consciousness,’ he asserted the same philosophy and discusses the journey of love from sexual contacts to the consciousness. Beauvoir thus handles the same issue while describing the importance to sex for gaining the consciousness. Same attitude we can have in ‘Symposium.’ While describing about sexual love, Diotima opines, “Sex between man and woman is a kind of birth. It’s divine business; it is immortality in a mortal creature, this matter of pregnancy and birth.” (Symposium, Page 48, 49). Here Diothima works as a representative of ancient philosophy of love. The discussions debates on this staggering subject are still going on in ancient time. It was discussed in the period of Socrates from that cultural point of view. It was discussed in a very romantic way which was lacking in rational and logical point of view. In modern time many feminist writers put forward their own views while describing man woman relationship. Among them two feminists writer here are taken into consideration. One is Simone De Beauvoir and the second is Luce Irigaray. Simone de Beauvoir while discussing the woman in love feels that the love of the woman is based on the jealousy and suspicion. She cannot think anything except her lover. Her entire destiny is based on her lover and she cannot think any other woman occupying her man. The society has always bestowed a status of ‘subject’ to men and a status of ‘object’ to the women. Hence de Beauvoir writes, "For him she is sex - absolute sex, no less. She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her; she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He is the Subject, he is the Absolute - she is the Other." Comparison between the love of two feminists i.e. Simone Beauvoir and Luce Irigaray. Luce Irigaray points out that sexual relationship between man and woman is quite natural rather should be natural. According to Irigaray the idea of sexual love exists only in nature and not in culture. She opines that man does not mean the same thing as male and woman is distinct from female. To Irigaray man and woman both are eligible to achieve the subjectivity. In her book “An Ethics of Sexual Differences” she has focused her principles of man woman relationship in a very distinctive way. She has created the imaginary dialogues between her and the ancient philosophers like Aristotle, Plato, Descartes and Spinoza. And through these dialogues she develops the theme and central idea of the book. Like de Beauvoir she is also of the same opinion that man and women both should be considered as embodied subjects. There are somewhat differences between Irigaray’s and Beauvoir’s attitude. Irigaray takes Beauvoir’s idea of ‘woman as other,’ as ‘Other in same.’ Beauvoir has subordinated feminism to socialism. She has further insisted that woman should be considered equal. Irigaray on the other hand takes into consideration the self defined woman who is not satisfied with the concept of sameness but whose otherness and difference is the social and symbolic representation. Some ideas go parallel to each other but still there are some resemblances. Both Irigaray and de Beauvoir are the feminists but the difference is that Irigaray was a difference – feminist while de Beauvoir was equality – feminist. Luce Irigaray also attacks on Beauvoir’s attitude when Beauvoir reveals her opinion that social equality of sexes is desirable aim for feminism. According to Irigaray it aims at eliminating the sexual differences. Luce Irigaray while describing the modern feminism attitude writes that feminism is not just to strive to get social equality and abolition of the female oppression. Cultural feminism became significant in modern feminists writers like Luce Irigaray. While discussing about the ideal and ethical love, both Beauvoir and Luce Irigaraty assert the same view point. According to her an ethic love lies in freedom, and trust. (‘The Ethics of Sexual Differences’) Both men and women have their own place. Ethical love cannot occur between them if there is no respect for each other in their mind irrespective of their limitations. Man and woman relationship must be transparent. Both of them should respect the privacy of each other as an individual. They should be respectful towards each other. And the pillars of the love relationship are built up on this attitude. It is not always necessary to give up completely to each other. Love ought not to be a burden for both of them otherwise harmony cannot be established in their relationship. These are the different facets of an ideal love according to Beauvoir. Review on Woman in Love The 23rd chapter of ‘The Second Sex,’ that is Woman in Love’ is based upon the theme of deception, self deception. For years women have been deceived by male dominated society as a second class human or the ‘Others.’ The mentality of dependence is imposed by the society on women. For man woman is only an active sovereign subject, woman is one value amongst many. But for a woman man is the only valuable thing and her life is male oriented. Love is like a trap for her. She accepts his superiority but at the same time she expects that this superiority must be for her only because she is absolute in her love and devotion towards him. Beauvoir’s woman in love is many times remains in dilemma. If she finds that her lover disfigures her, destroyed her she gets aware of the fact that she has lost everything. And that is the most depressing moment for her. In some culture it is taught to the woman from her childhood that her husband is Supreme Power. He is like a God and she should always obey him. She has to relinquish herself completely for the sake of her love. The religious norms thus are imposed on her. She can never think that this person whom she has bestowed the status of God is actually a human being who is bound to commit mistakes, sins. So he cannot be God. Through this same attitude she gets possessive of her man and she wants him completely. And the feeling of jealousy starts dwelling in her mind. She cannot even imagine sharing her God, her man with any other woman. This jealously sometimes put her into depression. To avoid this fear she constantly keeps herself isolated. In this context Beauvoir writes, “Jealously increases her isolation and thereby narrows her dependence.” (‘Second Sex’ Page 664) Personal opinion Love and Sex are the beautiful things in the life of every human being. An ideal love according to me should be much matured. Sexual love is an inseparable part for lover and beloved. But then if it works under the framework of some ethics it will definitely be the most pleasurable thing in our life. Love includes support to each other, sacrifice for the sake of each other and respect for each other which according to me are the ethics of authentic and real love. But what is the current picture of the society! In this material world, no one is bothering about the love and relationship. It is the world of “live in relationship.” The couples live together as far as they wish. If they want to separate they can at any time. It is a contract based relationship. So where is the place for love, and emotions? “Sex without Love” this is the normal trend of the new generation. I don’t claim that this has been a universal truth. Some exceptions are there yet who believe in the ethics of love? But this materialism is subject to change. At that time getting rid of depression, loneliness we have to keep the ethics of love. We should give up egoism superiority complex while indulging in love and sexual Conclusion There is no conclusion to the idea of love. Many philosophers, writers have propounded different opinions on this idea. In fact man and woman are like the two wheels of the sexual relationship. The anatomically and psychologically woman and man are different and they should be treated differently. The nature has offered different work to perform to men and women. They are like two sides of the coins. In the language of grammar both are main clauses and no one is subordinate clause. Both are incomplete without each other. Even if according to the mythology God created Adam first. But he might have felt that it is not the complete creation and so he created Eve. So there is no question of subject and object. It is the expectation of nature that they have same status in different body structure. The general conclusion out of article is that there should not be comparison. According to me woman should develop her personality and attitude through the framework of feminism and man should develop it in the framework of masculine. This is the only way to create a healthy sexual relationship between both genders. References: Second Sex – Chapter 23, “Woman in Love” Originally written by Simone De Beauvoir published in French in 1949, translated by H.M. Parshley in English in 1952. Luce Irigaray - “Sorcerer Love”: Reading of Plato, Symposium “Diothima’s Speech in “Ethics of Sexual Differences” Symposium – Originally written by Plato; translated with an introduction and notes by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 1974. Reissued as an Oxford World’s Classic paperback in 1998. Luce Irigaray. - Ethics of Sexual Differences, translated by Carolyn Burke & Gillian Gill. A Place for love – Vintges, Karen (Philosophy as passion : The thinking of Simone Beauvoir, Bloomington & Indiana University Press, 1996. Read More