Eros as the Groundless Foundation of Tragic Existence in Plato’s Thought

Abstract

This paper aims to articulate the groundless relation between “desire“ and “human existence“ by analyzing Plato’s conception of Eros. It was treated especially by Plato in some of his dialogues such as Lysis, Phaedrus and Symposium and it is possible to say that- as an idea of the origin- desire or its irrational nature and to philosophize on it is the main point for Plato’s ontology. In Plato’s corpus, desire as Eros can be argued to have a creative function and there is an essential relation between dialogue form and Eros in Plato’s thought. Human being- with its divided and in-between trait- at the center of this relation. Human being belongs to different, divided worlds and because of this his existence is to be qualified in terms of homelessness and strangeness.