Reexamining Love of Wisdom: Philosophical Desire from Socrates to Nietzsche

by Juan Carlos Flores

Overview

What is philosophy? Why does it matter? How have philosophy and its relation to religion and science changed from the ancient to the medieval and modern periods and beyond? What are the central philosophical ideas, from Socrates to Nietzsche? Reexamining Love of Wisdom addresses these questions. It offers a new perspective by organizing the material under the theme of philosophical desire and shows the timeless importance of philosophy understood as the love of wisdom. Flores provides an historical introduction to philosophy suitable for college students that is a resource for more advanced students or scholars interested in the history and nature of philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498237635
Publisher:	Cascade Books
Publication date:	09/30/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	186
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Juan Carlos Flores is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Detroit Mercy. He is the author of Henry of Ghent: Metaphysics and the Trinity (2006) and coauthor of Historical Dictionary of Medieval Philosophy and Theology (2007) and has written various scholarly articles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 Ancient Greek Love of Wisdom 1

I.1 Socrates and the Desire for Self-Knowledge 5

I.1a Socrates' Program 7

I.1b Ignorance and Love 11

I.1c The Socratic Question 13

I.2 Plato's Love of Wisdom: Desire for Liberation that Reaches the Divine 16

I.2a The Forms and the Soul 16

I.2b The Continuity and Confusion of Love 20

I.2c The Order of the Soul 21

I.2d Virtue as Unity and as a Way of Life 24

I.2e The Soul as Lover 29

I.3 Aristotle's Love of Wisdom: Desire for Actualization according to Form 31

I.3a The Desire to Know 30

I.3b The Basic Question 34

I.3c Change, Form, and Actualization 38

I.3d The Human Form and Knowledge 42

I.3e The Goal of the Human Form 45

I.3f Excellence and Desire for Actualization 48

I.3g Wisdom as the Highest Mode of Actualization 53

I.4 The Core of Ancient Greek Love of Wisdom 55

Chapter 2 Medieval Love of Wisdom 59

II.1 Medieval Platonic Love of Wisdom: Augustine 63

II.1a The Insufficiency of Practical Philosophy 65

II.1b The Insufficiency of Speculative Philosophy 68

II.1c The Drive for Synthesis 72

II.1d Love of Wisdom as Love of the God of Revelation 75

II.2 Medieval Aristotelian Love of Wisdom: Thomas Aquinas 76

II.2a Aquinas' Own Drive tor Synthesis 76

II.2b The Background of Aquinas' Conception of Wisdom: Avicenna and Averroes 81

II.2c Aquinas' Metaphysical Wisdom: A Synthesis of Aristotle and Neoplatonism 84

II.2d Aquinas' Revised Aristotelian Love of Wisdom 88

II.3 The Core of Medieval Love of Wisdom 92

II.3a The Common Core of Ancient and Medieval Love of Wisdom 92

II.3b The Proper Core of Medieval Love of Wisdom 93

Chapter 3 The Modern Break-Disparate Philosophical Loves 95

III.1 Descartes' Drive for Certainty 96

III.1a The Exigencies of the Thinking Sell 97

III.1b The Self-Evidence of Thought 100

III.1c Descartes' Procedure 102

III.1d God as the Source of Certainly 104

III.1e The Application of Clear and Distinct Ideas 108

III.1f The Outcome of Descartes' Philosophical Desire 111

III.2 Hobbes and the Desire for Security 114

III.2a Hobbes vs. Descartes on Certainty 114

III.2b Hobbes' Account of Knowledge 116

III.2c The Purpose and Value of Knowledge in Hobbes 119

III.2d Hobbes' Philosophical Desire with Reference to That of Descartes 121

III.3 Kant: Redefining Rational Autonomy 124

III.3a Kant's Background: Newton and Hume 124

III.3b Between Hume and Descartes 128

III.3c Autonomy and Self-Knowledge 131

III.3d The Drive for Moral Self-Determination 133

III.3e Kantian Freedom 137

III.3f Kant's Philosophical Desire 138

III.4 Hegel's New Philosophical Wisdom 139

III.4a Hegel's Critique of Kant 140

III.4b Hegel's Modern System 141

III.4C Hegel and Modern Philosophical Desire 143

III.5 Nietzsche's Affirmation of Life and Power 144

III.5a Nietzsche's Scholarship 145

III.5b Morality and the Will of Life 147

III.5c Nietzsche and Philosophical Desire 151

III.5d Nietzsche's Assessment of the life Force with Reference to the Ancient Understanding 153

Conclusion 159

Bibliography 165

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Flores presents a fascinating study of philosophy as the love of wisdom. For ancient and medieval thinkers, wisdom encompasses the whole of life. For moderns, specialized desires replace the whole, from certainty for Descartes to power for Nietzsche. This book is deeply rooted in the texts and thus beneficial to students and professors alike, as a companion for the history of philosophy and as a stimulus for comparing philosophical positions."
—Gary Gurtler, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Boston College; author of Plotinus: Ennead IV.4.30-45 and IV.5 "Problems Concerning the Soul"

"In Reexamining Love of Wisdom, Juan Carlos Flores interprets the history of philosophy, not as a parade of diverse metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical doctrines, but as the expansion and contraction of a certain kind of love; quite literally, the love of wisdom. Working from this reorientation, Flores arrives at original and important insights into what has animated philosophical passion over the centuries. His highly readable book is characterized throughout by both fair-mindedness and critical penetration."
—James Carey, St. John's College, Santa Fe
 
 
"Flores' valuable book unveils new perspectives on the role of 'love of wisdom' in the history of Western philosophy. Beginning from the Greek understanding of love of wisdom as self-knowledge and understanding of right action (Socrates) and as the soul's liberation and knowledge of divine objects as the Forms (Plato) to a comprehension of the totality of things and their principles (Aristotle), he proceeds through the medieval and modern periods showing how the shifting focus of love or desire in inquiry determines the final outcome of a philosopher's view. A refreshing, informative, and stimulating work."
—Joseph A. Novak, Professor Emeritus, University of Waterloo

Editorial Reviews

"Flores presents a fascinating study of philosophy as the love of wisdom. For ancient and medieval thinkers, wisdom encompasses the whole of life. For moderns, specialized desires replace the whole, from certainty for Descartes to power for Nietzsche. This book is deeply rooted in the texts and thus beneficial to students and professors alike, as a companion for the history of philosophy and as a stimulus for comparing philosophical positions."
—Gary Gurtler, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Boston College; author of Plotinus: Ennead IV.4.30-45 and IV.5 "Problems Concerning the Soul"

"In Reexamining Love of Wisdom, Juan Carlos Flores interprets the history of philosophy, not as a parade of diverse metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical doctrines, but as the expansion and contraction of a certain kind of love; quite literally, the love of wisdom. Working from this reorientation, Flores arrives at original and important insights into what has animated philosophical passion over the centuries. His highly readable book is characterized throughout by both fair-mindedness and critical penetration."
—James Carey, St. John's College, Santa Fe
 
 
"Flores' valuable book unveils new perspectives on the role of 'love of wisdom' in the history of Western philosophy. Beginning from the Greek understanding of love of wisdom as self-knowledge and understanding of right action (Socrates) and as the soul's liberation and knowledge of divine objects as the Forms (Plato) to a comprehension of the totality of things and their principles (Aristotle), he proceeds through the medieval and modern periods showing how the shifting focus of love or desire in inquiry determines the final outcome of a philosopher's view. A refreshing, informative, and stimulating work."
—Joseph A. Novak, Professor Emeritus, University of Waterloo

From the Publisher