Close relationships

Affinity • Attachment • Bonding • Boyfriend • Casual • Cohabitation • Compersion • Concubinage • Consort • Courtship • Divorce • Domestic partnership • Dower, dowry, and bride price • Family • Friendship • Girlfriend • Husband • Infatuation • Intimacy • Jealousy • Limerence • Love • Marriage • Monogamy • Nonmonogamy • Passion • Pederasty • Platonic love • Polyamory • Polyfidelity • Polygamy • Psychology of monogamy • Relationship abuse • Romance • Separation • Sexuality • Serial monogamy • Sexual orientation • Significant other • Soulmate • Wedding • Widowhood • Wife  This box: view • talk • edit

Platonic love, in its modern popular sense, is a non-sexual affectionate relationship,^[1] usually between people who otherwise might be expected to be sexually involved with each other. An interpersonal relationship is a relatively long-term association between two or more people Affinity in terms of Sociology, refers to " Kinship of Spirit " interest and other interpersonal commonalities. Attachment in adults deals with the theory of attachment in adult romantic relationships Human bonding refers to the development of a close Interpersonal relationship between family members or friends NOTICE*************** Casual relationship is a term used to describe the physical and emotional relationship between two people who may have a Sexual relationship or a near-sexual relationship without Cohabitation is when people live together in an emotionally- and/or physically- Intimate relationship. Compersion is a term used by practitioners of Polyamory or Swingers to describe the experience of taking pleasure that one's partner is with another person Concubinage is the state of a woman or youth in an ongoing quasi-matrimonial relationship with a man of higher social status CONSORT is the name of the combined Integrated library system shared by the CONSORT Colleges. Courtship is the traditional dating period before engagement and marriage Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the termination of a Marriage. A domestic partnership is a legal or Personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by a traditional Not to be confused with Dowry, or with Dour. Dower or morning gift ( Latin doarium, or Latinized A dowry (also known as trousseau or tocher) is the money goods or estate that a woman brings to her soon to be husband in marriage Bride price also known as bride wealth is an amount of Money or Property or Wealth paid by the groom or his family to the Parents of Family denotes a group of People affiliated by consanguinity affinity or co-residence Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more beings Girlfriend is a term that can refer to either a Female partner in a non- marital romantic relationship or a female non-intimate Friend A husband is a Male spouse (participant in a Marriage, Civil union or Civil partnership. Infatuation is the state of being completely carried away by unreasoned passion or Love; addictive love The meaning of intimacy varies from relationship to relationship and within a given relationship Limerence, as posited by psychologist Dorothy Tennov, is an involuntary Cognitive and emotional state in which a person feels an intense romantic Love is any of a number of Emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong Affection. NOTICE TO WOULD-BE ROMEOS ************** Monogamy is the custom or condition of having only one mate in a Relationship, thus forming a Couple. Nonmonogamy is a Blanket term covering several different types of Interpersonal relationship in which some or all participants have multiple marital, Passion (from the Latin patior, meaning to suffer or to endure is an emotion of feeling very strongly about a person Pederasty or paederasty refers to an erotic relationship sexually expressed or not between an adolescent boy and an adult male outside his immediate family Polyamory (from Greek el πολυ meaning many or several and Latin la amor “love” is the desire practice or acceptance of having more than one Polyfidelity is a form of polyamorous Group marriage wherein all members consider each other to be primary partners and agree to be sexual only with other members The term polygamy (a Greek word meaning "the practice of multiple marriage" is used in related ways in Social anthropology, Sociobiology, and The psychology of monogamy deals with the thoughts feelings and behaviors that commonly occur in monogamous relationships Abuse refers to the use or treatment of something (a person item substance concept or vocabulary that is harmful NOTICE TO WOULD-BE-ROMEOS*************** Legal separation (sometimes "separate maintenance" " divorce a mensa et thoro," or "divorce from bed-and-board" is a possible step towards Human sexual behavior or different human sexual practices encompass a wide range of activities such as strategies to find or attract partners ( Mating and display Serial monogamy is characterized by a series of long- or short-term exclusive Sexual relationships entered into consecutively over the lifespan Sexual orientation is believed to refer to "an enduring pattern of emotional romantic and/or sexual attractions to men women or both sexes NOTICE TO WOULD-BE-ROMEOS*************** Soulmate (or soul mate) is a term sometimes used to designate someone with whom one has a feeling of deep and natural affinity Friendship, Love, Intimacy A wedding is the Ceremony in which two people are united in Marriage. WIDOW is a full-length Album recorded by British rock band Ritual released in 1983 A wife is a Female spouse or participant in a Marriage, or Civil union or Civil partnership. Affection is defined by the Random House Dictionary as "disposition or state of mind or body A simple example of Platonic relationships is a deep, non-sexual (i. e. overtly romantic) friendship, not subject to gender pairings and not excluding close relatives.

At the same time, this interpretation is a misunderstanding of the nature of the Platonic ideal of love which from its origin was that of a chaste but passionate love, based not on lack of erotic interest but on spiritual transmutation of the sex force, opening up vast expanses of subtler enjoyments than sex. The phrase Platonic idealism usually refers to Plato's theory of forms or doctrine of ideas the exact philosophical meaning of which is perhaps one of the most disputed questions Love is any of a number of Emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong Affection. Chastity is Sexual behavior of a man or woman acceptable to the ethical norms and guidelines of a culture civilization or Religion. Passion (from the Latin patior, meaning to suffer or to endure is an emotion of feeling very strongly about a person

In its original Platonic form, this love was meant to bring the lovers closer to wisdom and the Platonic Form of Beauty. It is described in depth in Plato's Phaedrus and Symposium, where the examples given refer exclusively to the love between a man and a boy. The Phaedrus ( Greek: Φαίδρος written by Plato, is a dialogue between Plato's main Protagonist, Socrates, and Phaedrus an The Symposium is a philosophical dialogue written by Plato sometime after 385 BC In the Phaedrus, it is said to be a form of divine madness that is a gift from the gods, and that its proper expression is rewarded by the gods in the afterlife; in the Symposium, the method by which love takes one to the form of beauty and wisdom is detailed.

Amor Platonicus

The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino as a synonym for amor socraticus. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Marsilio Ficino ( Latin name Marsilius Ficinus; October 19 1433 - October 1 1499) was one of the most influential humanist Platonic love in this original sense of the term is examined in Plato's dialogue the Symposium, which has as its topic the subject of love or Eros generally. The Symposium is a philosophical dialogue written by Plato sometime after 385 BC Of particular importance there are the ideas attributed to the prophetess Diotima, which present love as a means of ascent to contemplation of the Divine. Diotima of Mantinea is a female philosopher who plays an important role in Plato's Symposium. For Diotima, and for Plato generally, the most correct use of love of other human beings is to direct ones mind to love of Divinity. In short, with genuine Platonic love, the beautiful or lovely other person inspires the mind and the soul and directs ones attention to spiritual things. One proceeds from recognition on another's beauty, to appreciation of Beauty as it exists apart from any individual, to consideration of Divinity, the source of Beauty, to love of Divinity. The spiritual ideas of Platonic love -- as well as the fundamental spiritual emphasis of all of Plato's writings -- has been de-emphasised over the last two centuries.

Some modern (and ancient) writers overemphasize Socrates' affectionate feelings towards male pupils in Plato's dialogues. In actual fact, Plato emphasized chastity in the case of homoerotic attraction, but suggested that recognition of beauty in a person of the same sex may still serve the aim of inspiration. Indeed, in some ways homoerotic attraction may have served Plato's illustrative purposes better than heterosexual love, since in the latter case issues of procreation complicate the picture.

The English term dates back as far as Sir William Davenant's Platonic Lovers (1636). Sir William Davenant (baptised 3 March, 1606 &ndash April 7, 1668) also spelled D'Avenant, was an English Poet It is derived from the concept in Plato's Symposium of the love of the idea of good which lies at the root of all virtue and truth. The Symposium is a philosophical dialogue written by Plato sometime after 385 BC For a brief period, Platonic love was a fashionable subject at the English royal court, especially in the circle around Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I. Henrietta Maria ( 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Princess of France and Queen Consort of England, Scotland Charles I, (19 November 1600 &ndash 30 January 1649 was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. Platonic love was the theme of some of the courtly masques performed in the Caroline era—though the fashion soon waned under pressures of social and political change. The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in sixteenth and early seventeenth century Europe though it was developed earlier in Italy Highlights of the Caroline Era The Caroline era was dominated by the growing religious political and social conflict between the King and his supporters termed the Royalist party

Paradox

Ironically, the very eponym of this love, Plato, as well as the forementioned Socrates, lived in a period where homosexuality and pederasty were central to the "Greek history and warfare, politics, art, literature and learning, in short to the Greek miracle"^[2][3]. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of Education. The concept of Platonic love arose in Plato's early writings such as Symposium and Phaedrus, within the context of the debate pitting mundane sexually expressed pederasty against the philosophic – or chaste – homoeroticism^[4]. The Symposium is a philosophical dialogue written by Plato sometime after 385 BC The Phaedrus ( Greek: Φαίδρος written by Plato, is a dialogue between Plato's main Protagonist, Socrates, and Phaedrus an Specifically, in Symposium, Alcibiades attempts to seduce Socrates, but Socrates rebuffs this pursuit and responds that if he does have this power to make Alcibiades a better man inside of him, why would he exchange his true beauty (i. The Symposium is a philosophical dialogue written by Plato sometime after 385 BC Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides (ˌælsɨˈbaɪədiːz (pronunciation Greek:, transliterated Alkibiádēs Kleiníou Skambōnidēs) meaning Alcibiades SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of Education. e. the intellectual realm) for the image of beauty (i. e. the physical beauty) that Alcibiades would provide. However, Plato's opinions in the late period of his life are reflected in the last dialogue, Laws, where he condemns homosexuality as "unnatural"^[3][4]. The Laws is Plato 's last and longest Dialogue. The question asked at the beginning is not "What is law?" as one would expect- that is the question

Plato and his students.

Regarding Socrates, John Addington Symonds in his A Problem in Greek Ethics states that he ". John Addington Symonds ( October 5 1840 - April 19, 1893) was an English poet and literary critic . . avows a fervent admiration for beauty in the persons of young men. At the same time he declares himself upon the side of temperate and generous affection, and strives to utilize the erotic enthusiasm as a motive power in the direction of philosophy. " According to Linda Rapp, Ficino, by Platonic love, meant ". . . a relationship that included both the physical and the spiritual. Thus, Ficino's view is that love is the desire for beauty, which is the image of the divine. "^[5]

Because of the common modern definition, Platonic love can be seen as paradoxical in light of these philosophers' life experiences and teachings. Plato and his peers did not teach that a man's relationship with a youth should lack an erotic dimension, but rather that the longing for the beauty of the boy is a foundation of the friendship and love between those two. However, having acknowledged that the man's erotic desire for the youth magnetizes and energizes the relationship, they countered that it is wiser for this eros to not be sexually expressed, but instead be redirected into the intellectual and emotional spheres.

To resolve this confusion, French scholars found it helpful to distinguish between amour platonique (the concept of non-sexual love) and amour platonicien (love according to Plato). When the term "Platonic love" is used today, it generally does not describe this aspect of Plato's views of love.

The understanding that Platonic love could be interpreted as masculine eros is alleged by some socio-historical critics to be linked with the social construction of a homosexual identity, and the cultural model of Platonic friendship / pederasty was supposedly used by educated gay men since the early Renaissance. Social constructionism and social constructivism are sociological and psychological theories of Knowledge that consider how social phenomena develop in

Alcibiades – beloved of Socrates, a love given as an example of what was later named Platonic love

See also

• Biological Attraction
• Asexuality
• Philosophy of pederasty
• Romantic friendship
• Sexual abstinence
• Spiritual marriage

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides (ˌælsɨˈbaɪədiːz (pronunciation Greek:, transliterated Alkibiádēs Kleiníou Skambōnidēs) meaning Alcibiades Interpersonal attraction (known as biological attraction in animals is the attraction between people which leads to Friendships and romantic Asexuality is a Sexual orientation that describes individuals who do not experience Sexual attraction. The topic of Pederasty, one that took pride of place over the love of women in the erotic lives of Greek aristocrats in general and 5th century BC Athenians in particular The term romantic friendship refers to a very close but non- Sexual relationship between friends often involving a degree of physical closeness beyond Sexual abstinence is the practice of voluntarily refraining from some or all aspects of Sexual activity. Spiritual marriage comes from the idea of " Love without sex. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
• Gould, T. (1963) Platonic Love. New York: The Free Press.

External links

• Plato's Theory of Love
• Plato on Friendship and Eros - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article