Love and the state in plato and confucius

摘要

What is love at its best? It is Confucian love, ren {_7., and Platonic love,rnwhich begins as er&, the desire for the beautiful and the good, and is transformedrninto philia, the love of the beautiful, the good, and the true. Confudusrnand Plato invented a new concept of love. They were interested, asrnwere few other philosophers, in love in a systematic way. For Plato andrnConfucius, love is not simply a feeling or state of mind but an activity withrna moral purpose. Love emerges as an impetus towards moral action andrnbrings about harmony in the individual and in the state. In Plato's and Conlucius'rnviews on love, we discover the moral function of love: love is at thernfoundation of the moral life of man as an individual and as a political being.rnOur philosophical interest in love and its moral power is stimulated by ourrndesire to determine the ethical basis of the state.