Philosophy 4990A/B Chapter Notes -C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
6 Dec 2012
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
By eros i mean of course that state which we call being in love. Sexuality may operate without eros or as part of eros. Very often what comes first is simply a delighted pre-occupation with the beloved. That austere voluptuary gave it as his opinion that love actually impairs sexual pleasure. A mode of perception entirely a mode of expression. One of the first things eros does is to obliterate the distinction between giving and receiving. The spiritual danger of eros arises almost entirely from the carnal element within it. Eros, without diminishing desire makes abstinence easier. We must not attempt to find an absolute in the flesh. Venus herself will have a terrible revenge if we take her occasional seriousness at its face value. Pleasure, pushed to its extreme shatters us like pain. Naked man has seemed to our ancestors not the natural but the abnormal man. That nudity emphasises common humanity and soft pedals what is individual.
