BBC
A History of Ideas: Diotima's Ladder
Harry Shearer on Diotima's Ladder
Is lust the first rung on a ladder that leads to the appreciation of abstract beauty? That’s the question posed in this rather racy animation based on Diotima’s theory of Beauty posited in Plato’s Symposium. Find out how lusting after the physical beauty of a lover can lead the rational person on a journey to morality.
Want to hear more on this topic?
Here’s the whole episode from A History of Ideas – Philosopher Angie Hobbs on Beauty and Morality
What links the shell of a Nautilus, Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ and the Pyramids? The Golden Ratio.
Is a woman born a woman? In her book ‘The Second Sex’, existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir says no.
Is lust the first rung on a ladder that leads to the appreciation of abstract beauty?
What is the difference between the beautiful and the sublime? This question was central to Edmund Burke’s ‘A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful’.