Single Idea 507

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / g. Love]

Full Idea

Virtuous love consists of decorous desire for the beautiful.

Clarification

'Beauty' is the Greek word 'kalos', which also translates as 'fine'

Gist of Idea

Virtuous love consists of decorous desire for the beautiful

Source

Democritus (attrib) (reports [c.250 BCE], B073), quoted by John Stobaeus - Anthology 3.5.23

Book Reference

'Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers', ed/tr. Freeman,Kathleen [Harvard 1957], p.101


A Reaction

Is it possible to love something without seeing it as beautiful? A badly crippled dog, for example. If not, that seems to reveal something about beauty.