Content Analysis of Love in the Context of Plato and Avicenna

Recognized as the first philosophers who innovated some philosophical approaches to love in the Greek and Islamic traditions, Plato and Avicenna included love among the jewels of philosophical issues, and wrote some treatises on analysis of love that became the precursors of a novel philosophical approach. Inspired by those who followed Plato’s Symposium to explain love in the Islamic tradition, Avicenna in his Risalah fil- Ishq (A Treatise on Love), presents some ideas that are almost parallel to those of Plato s. However we should not ignore the differences that distinguish both treatises from each other. The resemblance often lies in their ontological analysis of love and their discrepancies can be found in their semantic and methodological analysis of love. Within both philosophical masterpieces, the position of knowledge in true love, interweaving of love and need as well as the objective of love are all exposed to serious scrutiny. But their conceptualizations of love and explanation method are thoroughly distinctive. In this comparative content analysis of the two treatises, we hope to reveal latent nuances in both thinkers approaches to love.

Keywords:

Love , Plato , Symposium , Avicenna , Risalah fil- Ishq (A Treatise on Love)