Philosophy 325 Spring 2025 Review Sheet—Midterm Exam

Flashcards about the origin of love from Aristophenes to freedom of human beings in the existentialist sense

Aristophanes' account of original human nature

Humans were completely round, with back and sides in a circle; offspring of the sun (male), earth (female), or moon (androgynous).

The full story of the 'circle people'/original humans

Humans were split in half by Zeus to weaken them and increase worship to the Gods; they now long for their other half to become whole again.

Aristophanes' account of the function/purpose of love

The function of love is to find our 'other half' and become one again, fulfilling our inherent desire for wholeness.

Aristophanes’ explanation of what lovers really want/desire

Lovers desire to merge and become one with their beloved, to restore their original wholeness.

The implications of Aristophanes’ view

If Aristophanes is right, human happiness depends on finding our other half and achieving complete unity, suggesting our nature is rooted in the desire for this reunion.

Socrates/Diotima’s explanation of love as a spirit (daemon)

Love is a spirit (daemon) that exists between mortal and immortal, serving as a messenger between gods and humans and always in need of good and beautiful things.

Socrates’/Diotima’s explanation of the paradoxical nature of love

Love is the offspring of Poverty (Penia) and Resourcefulness (Poros), born on Aphrodite's birthday, and therefore both needy and resourceful in the pursuit of beauty.

Love’s relationship to beauty and immortality

Love is related to beauty and immortality because it leads one to seek the Form of Beauty, an eternal and unchanging source from which all other manifestations of beauty derive.

Socrates’/Diotima’s explanation of the ascent/ladder of love

The ascent of love begins with the love of one beautiful body, progressing to all beautiful bodies, then to the beauty of the soul, and ultimately to the Form of Beauty itself.

Why is reaching the form of Beauty so important?

Knowing and teaching the Form of Beauty to others leads to enlightenment, fulfillment, and a connection with divinity, allowing one to make oneself and others more beautiful.

The conditional nature of love (as characterized in Socrates’/Diotima’s speech)

Love is conditional because lovers are drawn to beauty and virtue; if these qualities diminish, love may cease.

Alcibiades’ characterization of Socrates

Socrates is described as outwardly unremarkable but inwardly wise and self-controlled, pushing Alcibiades to pursue virtue over physical pleasures.

The relationship between Socrates and Alcibiades & how it relates to the view of love expressed in Socrates’/Diotima’s speech

Socrates' rejection of Alcibiades highlights that true beauty lies in intellect and soul, not physical appearance, aligning with Diotima's view that love stems from a lack of good and beautiful qualities.

Lust (what is its nature)

Lust is a craving for sexual activities or someone, seen as shameful because it risks hurting a third party and tugs at the faithful to become disobedient.

Origin of lust

Lust originated with Adam and Eve's disobedience, leading to a loss of control and shame, and is seen as a punishment.

Gendered & sexist dimensions of the story of Adam & Eve

The story of Adam and Eve is gendered and sexist, portraying Eve as evil, weak, and seductive, blaming her for original sin, reflecting societal views of women as subordinate.

Importance of the unconscious

The unconscious is a region of the mind housing forgotten ideas that still influence conscious life.

Oedipus complex/Oedipal feelings

The Oedipus complex is a child's desire for sexual involvement with the opposite-sex parent, repressed but influencing development; unresolved, it can lead to 'mother-fixation' in men.

Psychical/psychological impotence vs. physical impotence

Psychical impotence is psychological inability to achieve arousal, while physical impotence is physical inability; both are caused by underlying incestuous thoughts.

Incest taboo and its effects

The incest taboo inhibits the combination of affectionate and sensual currents in libido development, leading to impotence.

Debasement of the sexual object and the function of debasement

Debasement involves reducing the quality or value of a sexual object, often leading men to seek ethically inferior partners they can't judge.

How can one (a male) become truly free and happy in love

A male can become truly free and happy in love by surmounting his respect for women and coming to terms with incestuous desires, overcoming the Oedipus conflict.

Forbiddenness and its importance for women’s sexuality

Forbiddenness is important for women's sexuality because societal teachings often restrict and shame female desire, leading to neurosis or repressed sexuality.

Sublimation and its effects

Sublimation is a defense mechanism that channels unacceptable urges into socially valued activities.

Passionate love

Passionate love is intense, characterized by cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and physiological components.

Companionate love

Companionate love is a deep, affectionate attachment with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components.

Levine and Heller

Levine and Heller describe secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment styles that originate in childhood and influence intimacy in romantic relationships.

Dangerous tendencies/ Problems in relationships

Dangerous tendencies in relationships include projection, which involves attributing unconscious content to one's partner, affecting the relationship.

Relationships based on instinct/biology vs. relationships based on one’s individuated personality

Relationships based on instinct are biological while relationships based on one’s individuated personality reflect genuine psychological connection.

Core ideas associated with feminism

Feminism is the belief in the full social, economic, and political equality of women and men.

Bechdel Test/Rule

The Bechdel Test requires a film to have two named women characters who talk to each other about something other than a man.

Sexual imbalance in the “pleasure of looking”

Traditional Hollywood film is sexist because it often depicts an active male who looks and a passive woman who is looked at as an erotic object.

Patriarchal ideal of womanhood

Horney states The patriarchal ideal of womanhood stresses social pressures on women to develop traits idealized by society; focus on male, motherhood and eroticism.

Overvaluation of love and undervaluation of everything else in one’s life

Overvaluation of love in one’s life involves devaluing everything else, leading to conflict and a sense that life is stale without a male partner.

Rivalry in childhood

Rivalry in childhood, rooted from a male's gaze, causes competition and jealousy, influencing eroticism and self-esteem. there can be a wish to become a man as well.

Attempts of women to prove their femininity

Attempts by women to prove their femininity can stem from insecurity and shame, even when successful, and may involve wishes to become a man.

Overvaluation of men.

Overvaluation of men is related to the traditional idea of needing a male; that life revolves around one, all talent, and capabilities lose meaning.

Women role determined by traditions

Horney believes the legacy of tradition and culture confines women, restricting autonomy and promoting child-rearing, eroticism and focus on men.

Women… with her lowered self-esteem of centuries duration

Women with lowered self-esteem in a haven of peace lack exertions/ anxiety associated with other abilities that is compounded by external resistance.

Two senses of the self — “I”(pour-soi) and “Me” (en-soi)

Sartre's existentialism posits two senses of self: the 'I' (pour-soi), which is consciousness, choice, and freedom, and the 'Me' (en-soi), which is facticity and fixed existence.

Roles and sense of self

Roles are conferred on us bytraits, the environment, the past, and by others race, ethnicity, SES you were born into, existentialist idea that all meaning comes from our choices

Freedom of human beings (in the existentialist sense)

Freedom is the human ability to live a certain way or another and is important for love relationships to overcome any struggle of existence

Love as a struggle for self-identity

Sartre thinks love is a struggle for self-identity, where individuals have a vision of each other, but is always a battle of some sort due to other's expectations.

What is the desire to possess freedom as freedom?

Sartre believes the desire to possess freedom as freedom means the lover wants the other's freedom to determine itself to become love, not just at the beginning, but always and to be chosen as an end

Problem with love produced by a “love potion”?

In a love potion there is nothing, its mechanism beyond the self, the lover is just alone.

Why does Sarte think that love is doomed?

Sartre thinks love is doomed because it attempts to overcome the intolerable reality of another person and is a futile struggle for self-identity.

Love’s meaning for women vs. love’s meaning for men

Beauvoir believes for women, love is devotion or a total figt of body and soul but for men love is of man's life a thing apart; tis woman's whole existence.

To relinquish everything for the benefit of a master

Men wish to take possession of them at the heart of their lives, they remain sovereign subjects; the beloved women is only one value among others; they wish to integrate her into their existence and not to squander it on her Women's

deification of men and its effects

Her love as that if a religion, lack of self, lack on indivuation. The supreme goal of human loveas of mystical love, is identfifcation with the loved one.

What is the account if you have all the faith in something, and it does not meet this exceptions?

Disappointment to woman the discovery the faults, the mediocrity of her idol but it is not for men whose the duration is way bigger

Why do all women identify with “the little mermaid?”

The account is, the little mermaid who exchanged her fishtail for feminine legs through love, and then found herself walking on needles and live coals.

Why are women “in love” (in the sense that love has been conceptualized and practice) destined to love in fear and servility?

Woman are because supreme effort to survive by accepting the dependence tow which she is condemned but even with consent a life of dependency can lived only in fear and servility.

authentic/genuine love and its requirements?

De Beauvoir believes that in an authehctic love that the mutual recognition of two liberties that wont sacrifice

How do women emulate patriarchal ideals?

Women often try to emulate patriarchal ideals of womanhood due to societal pressures and internalized expectations.

How does overvaluation of love manifest in women's lives?

Women may prioritize love and relationships to an excessive degree, leading to the undervaluation of other aspects of their lives and a sense of emptiness without a male partner.

What is the existential

Existentialism suggests that individuals create their own meaning and essence through choices, emphasizing freedom and responsibility.

Traditional Hollywood film is sexist because it often depicts an active male who looks and a passive woman who is looked at as an erotic object.

What is traditional Hollywood film? How does it relate to women and sexism?

Levine and Heller describe secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment styles that originate in childhood and influence intimacy in romantic relationships.

What do Levine and Heller describe?

Feminism is the belief in the full social, economic, and political equality of women and men.

What are the core ideas associated with feminism?