Platonic love is any kind of idealized affectionate relationship on what there is no realization of a love relationship, for different reasons, as in a case of friendship between two people in which at least one wants another kind of relationship.
Platonic love can also be a impossible love, difficult or that is unrequited. Often a person has a platonic love or passion and never tries to get out of that phase for fear of getting hurt or finding that their fantasies and expectations do not match reality.
The term love "platonicus" was first used by the Florentine Neoplatonic philosopher Marsilio Ficino in the 15th century as a synonym for Socratic love.
The expression saw its concept change thanks to the work of Mr. William Davenant, "Platonic Lovers" (Platonic Lovers - 1636), where the English poet refers to love as portrayed in Plato's Symposium, which states that love is the root of all virtues and truth.
For the Greek philosopher Plato, love was something essentially pure and devoid of passions, whereas these are essentially blind, material, ephemeral and false. Love would be an agent of transformation and ordering of the world.
The concept of Platonic love or passion is also related to the world of ideas, created by Plato. Everything that exists in the world of ideas is perfect and eternal, since what inhabits the sensible world is an imperfect copy of that world of ideas.
Therefore, platonic love, or anything platonic, refers to something that is perfect, eternal, and unchanging, but that exists only in idea.
Platonic love is understood as a idealized love, unreal and fanciful, where the beloved object is the perfect being, holder of all good qualities and without defects.
See too:
- 5 differences between love and passion
- 7 philosophers who defined love in an epic way
- Brotherly love
- Unconditional love
- Platonic
- Love