The status of sexuality in Neoplatonism

Title: The status of sexuality in Neoplatonism
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2020, vol. 25, iss. 2, pp. 163-177
Extent
163-177
  • ISSN
    1803-7402 (print)
    2336-4424 (online)
Type: Article
Language
 

Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.

Abstract(s)
The stereotype of "Platonic love" that developed during the Renaissance implies a type of relationship, between two people of the opposite gender, which does not involve sexual activity. A new examination of certain relevant texts by Neoplatonists such as Plotinus, Porphyry, Hierocles, Hermias, Proclus and Olympiodorus, written during the period of Late Antiquity, establish that the question of sexuality is present in the very architecture of their systems, thus maintaining a coherent approach over time. "Mixed love", tending towards the sexual union that enables the conception of children, is morally good. Through an exegesis of the Symposium, Phaedrus and First Alcibiades, each of these Neoplatonic philosophers explores sexuality through the prisms of cosmology, ethics and political theory.
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