Divine Authority, Love, and Beauty: Comparative Analysis of Hadewijch, Antigone, Plotinus, and Philosophical Theories

Hadewijch & Antigone

Flashcard A1.1 — Core Comparison

Q: Why is Hadewijch most like Antigone?

Both prioritize absolute divine obligation over social order, authority, and personal safety. Neither compromises when divine truth conflicts with human law or moderation.

Flashcard A1.2 — Divine Law vs Human Authority

Q: How does divine authority function for Antigone and Hadewijch?

Antigone obeys divine burial law over Creon’s political command.

Hadewijch obeys divine Love (Minne) over community expectations, moderation, or institutional religion.

In both cases, divine authority is non-negotiable.

Flashcard A1.3 — Suffering as Proof of Truth

Q: Why is suffering central for both figures?

Antigone accepts death as the cost of fidelity.

Hadewijch treats suffering as evidence of genuine love — absence, longing, and pain confirm devotion. Suffering is not accidental; it validates truth.

Flashcard A1.4 — Key Textual Anchors

Q: What lines or ideas can you reference?

Antigone: “I was born to share in love, not hatred.”

Hadewijch: Love demands total surrender; union requires endurance of pain. Both portray love as law-like, not emotional preference.

Hadewijch’s Poetic Style

Flashcard A2.1 — Core Claim

Q: Why is Hadewijch’s poetic style the most effective?

Because her language mirrors the experience of mystical love — overwhelming, paradoxical, excessive, and resistant to rational explanation.

Flashcard A2.2 — Style Characteristics

Q: What defines Hadewijch’s poetic style?

-Paradox (joy/suffering, presence/absence)

-Emotional extremity

-Violent imagery (wounds, fire, consumption)

-Breakdown of rational clarity

Her poetry enacts love, rather than analyzing it.

Flashcard A2.3 — Comparison to Other Poets

Q: How does Hadewijch compare to Sappho, Ovid, and Dante?

-Sappho: embodied immediacy of eros

-Ovid: ironic, playful, strategic

-Dante: ordered, allegorical ascent

-Hadewijch: ecstatic loss of self

Hadewijch best captures love’s extremity, especially divine love.

Flashcard A2.4 — Why This Matters Philosophically

Q: Why does poetic style matter for theories of love?

If love exceeds reason, then non-rational language may be the most truthful form. Hadewijch challenges the assumption that love can be fully systematized (Plato, Aquinas).

Plotinus & Invisible Beauty

Flashcard A3.1 — Core Claim

Q: What does Plotinus mean by invisible beauty being “more real”?

Invisible beauty (the Good, intellect, virtue) is ontologically prior to visible beauty. Visible beauty participates in it but does not originate it.

Flashcard A3.2 — Plotinus’ Argument

Q: Why is invisible beauty superior?

-It is eternal and unchanging

-It exists independently of matter

-Visible beauty fades, decays, and depends on form

Thus, invisible beauty is the source, not the copy.

Flashcard A3.3 — Course Support

Q: Which authors support Plotinus’ view?

-Plato (Symposium): physical beauty initiates ascent

-Augustine (Confessions X): created beauty awakens memory of God

-Dante: Beatrice’s beauty leads beyond itself

All treat visible beauty as a sign, not the end.

Flashcard A3.4 — Nuanced Defense

Q: How can you defend this without rejecting the body?

Visible beauty still matters — it is the gateway to higher beauty. But it becomes idolatrous if treated as ultimate.

Equivocal Theories of Love

Flashcard A4.1 — Core Claim

Q: Why are equivocal theories of love more rational?

Because love clearly operates differently across contexts, texts, and relationships.

Flashcard A4.2 — Failure of Univocal Love

Q: Why does one definition fail?

A single definition cannot explain:

-Sappho's bodily eros

-Hadewijch's mystical annihilation

-Cleopatra's destructive passion

-Carver's confusion and silence

Univocal theories flatten complexity.

Flashcard A4.3 — Textual Evidence

Q: Which texts support equivocal love?

-Ovid: love as game and manipulation

-Hadewijch: love as suffering and transcendence

-Carver: love as undefined and unstable

Each presents a different logic of love.

Flashcard A4.4 — Philosophical Payoff

Q: What does equivocal love allow us to acknowledge?

-Love can be harmful

-Love can be transcendent

-Love can be meaningless

-Love can change over time

This aligns with lived experience.

Aquinas & Wojtyła

Flashcard A5.1 — Aquinas

Q: How does Aquinas define love?

To love is to will the good of the other.

Flashcard A5.2 — Strengths of Aquinas

Q: Why is Aquinas valuable?

-Provides ethical clarity

-Prevents possessive or abusive love

-Aligns love with moral goodness

Useful for judging love ethically.

Flashcard A5.3 — Limits of Aquinas

Q: What does Aquinas miss?

-Emotional intensity

-Desire

-Self-loss

-Passionate suffering

His theory explains duty more than experience.

Flashcard A5.4 — Wojtyła

Q: How does Wojtyła define love?

Love is a total, irrevocable gift of self.

Flashcard A5.5 — Strengths & Risks

Q: Why is Wojtyła compelling but dangerous?

-Captures vulnerability and sacrifice

-Explains Hadewijch and Cleopatra

-But risks justifying self-destruction if unchecked

Flashcard A5.6 — Synthesis

Q: How do Aquinas and Wojtyła complement each other?

-Aquinas = moral direction

-Wojtyła = existential depth

Together, they explain both what love should do and what it feels like.

Bataille & Hadewijch

Flashcard A6.1 — Bataille’s Core Idea

Q: What is Bataille’s theory of love?

Love seeks to break the boundaries of individuality and achieve continuity through excess, risk, and self-loss.

Flashcard A6.2 — Transcendence Through Excess

Q: How does Bataille redefine transcendence?

 Not through order or ascent (Plato), but through ecstasy, violation, and loss of self.

Flashcard A6.3 — Why Bataille Illuminates Hadewijch

Q: How does this apply to Hadewijch?

-She longs to be consumed by Love

-She embraces suffering as union

-She dissolves the self to reach God

Her mysticism is ecstatic, not orderly.

Flashcard A6.4 — Key Contrast

Q: Bataille/Hadewijch vs Plato/Dante?

-Plato/Dante: ascent through reason and structure

-Bataille/Hadewijch: transcendence through excess and breakdown

Carver & Love

Flashcard B9.1 — Core Claim

Q: What is Carver saying about love?

Love has no stable, shared meaning; it is fragmented, contradictory, and resistant to definition.

Flashcard B9.2 — Four Characters, Four Loves

Q: How does the story demonstrate equivocal love?

Each character describes love differently, and none can prove their definition superior.

Flashcard B9.3 — Terri’s Relationship

Q: Why does Terri challenge Aquinas?

Her abusive partner "loved" her, yet caused harm. This contradicts the idea that love always wills the good.

Flashcard B9.4 — Mel’s Failure

Q: Why is Mel’s role symbolic?

As a cardiologist, he understands the heart physically but not emotionally. Rational definitions collapse.

Flashcard B9.5 — The Old Couple

Q: Why is the old couple important?

They represent a love that exists without explanation — silent, enduring, and unknowable.

Flashcard B9.6 — Ending

Q: What does the ending suggest?

Darkness and silence replace meaning. Unlike Plato or Dante, there is no ascent or revelation.

Flashcard B9.7 — Course Alignment

Q: Which thinkers does Carver align with?

-Lysias (love is irrational)

-Bataille (excess and breakdown)

-Against: Plato, Augustine, Dante