What is platonic love – Learn all the details about this romantic and passionate concept

Are you wondering what the meaning of platonic love is? Platonic love is a frequent topic in our language. This is an expression that is commonly used to refer to a impossible and unattainable love. However, the current concept differs slightly from the original.

Today, we understand platonic love as a feeling of idealized love that is generally unrequited or unrealizable. This concept refers to that love at a distance, generally, based on fantasy, where the loved one is perfect, that is, it is characterized only by good qualities and is free of defects. Furthermore, in our popular slang we usually use the expression “platonic love” to refer directly to that beloved and idealized person who provokes that feeling of unattainable love in oneself. Although the concept of platonic love appears from the hand of the neoplatonic Florentine philosopher Marsilio Ficino, in the 15th century, to understand what platonic love means in its origin, we must go back to the Plato’s philosophical visionphilosopher who gives his name to the “Platonic” objective and to whom this concept is attributed.

Currently, this type of platonic love refers to that romantic longing for an unattainable person. That is, a love that, although impossible, has been idealized and makes us experience strong feelings and desires towards another person.

The concept of platonic love is born from the hand of Greek philosopher Plato and appears treated in his work The banquet. For the philosopher, love is something pure and devoid of passions, since passions are essentially blind, ephemeral, material and false. Therefore, platonic love, in his understanding, is based on virtue and is not based on interests.

In Plato’s world of ideas everything is perfect, while the real world is just an imperfect copy of the world of ideas. Love in Greek has been studied a lot, so much so that, based on this point of view of the Greek philosopher, the definition of Platonic love also addresses that perfect love that would only exist in the world of ideas, but that has no place in the real world, since it is too vitiated by passions. According to Plato, love tries to explain to us that the person loves beyond the beauty of the simple, seeking perfection. In other words: for Plato, beauty and divine essence are made available to us thanks to love. Therefore, Platonic love for the philosopher is not personified, but is about the force that pushes us to find that beauty and perfection through the intellect, because according to Plato the beauty that we find in a body belongs to the intellectual plane.

Years later, there were many philosophers who included and referenced Platonic love, which, little by little, took on other connotations, until reaching the concept we know today. The variation of the concept of Platonic love, as Plato understood it, appears thanks to the work of Sir Williams Davenant, The platonic lovers, in 1636, where the poet referred to Platonic love as the root of truth and all virtues. Thus, today, whenever we talk about true platonic love, an important factor influences: idealization of the loved person that marks the line of the unattainable. Therefore, you should know that true love differs greatly from platonic love.

Do you want to know more about Who Plato was? Don’t miss this unCOMO article and get detailed information.

Do you wonder what love is? Love in psychology has also been analyzed and studied, in this case, the concept of platonic love. You should know that its origin lies in the feeling of idealization and fantasy towards a love considered “perfect”, but at the same time unattainable. According to psychology, at some point in our lives we have all been able to feel platonic love, generally the result of insecurity, introversion or emotional inhibition. It is a strong feeling, usually, the person you love feels frustrated towards the unattainableTherefore, this feeling is usually very common, especially in periods of adolescence and youth.

For psychologists, the feeling of occasional platonic love is habitual, common and circumstantial. Nevertheless, must be treated when it becomes an obsession, since it can generate a lot of frustration for those who feel it. The concept of platonic love in psychology is based on idealization, an idealization that usually does not correspond to reality, so that love is transferred to a relationship that is impossible or difficult to both establish and sustain. However, as we have mentioned previously, unconditional and true loves are not at all similar to platonic loves.

Do you want to go further and show your feelings through writing? In this oneCOMO article we explain how to make a love poem to show your true feelings and thus be able to vent easily.

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