The Pedagogical Dimension of Platonic Eros: The Education of the Lover’s and the Beloved’s Souls
The Pedagogical Dimension of Platonic Eros: The Education of the Lover’s and the Beloved’s Souls

Summary/Abstract: This article refers to the pedagogical dimension of Platonic eros pinpointing its characteristics and highlights that, for Plato, pedagogy is a required educational procedure to initiate both the lover’s and the beloved’s souls into knowledge and wisdom.5 Although the pedagogical aspect of the Platonic eros is already studied by scholars, such as Kerry Burch, it has not been properly shown that this is a joint pedagogical experience with a side-by-side educational impact on both members of the erotic relationship, and not just on a single member of the relationship, i.e. the beloved. Burch showed, almost two decades ago, that it is the pedagogical dimension that distinguishes Platonic eros from the pre-philosophic understanding of eros, and accords to eros -as we will see- epistemological and moral traits.6 However, although he illuminates the educational aspect of Platonic eros, he does not get into the interrelation of the lover and the beloved, as well as the pedagogical dynamics of the education of both souls, nor does he clearly state the side-by-side educational effect. This is what this essay will attempt to shed some light on, after presenting the pedagogical dimension of Platonic eros and connecting it with some more recent scholarship on Platonic educational philosophy

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