Skip to main content

What Good is Love?

Ware, L (2014) What Good is Love? Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis, 34 (2). pp. 57-73. ISSN 2374-8257. (KAR id:62974)

Abstract

The role of emotions in mental life is the subject of longstanding controversy, spanning the history of ethics, moral psychology, and educational theory. This paper defends an account of love’s cognitive power. My starting point is Plato’s dialogue, the Symposium, in which we find the surprising claim that love aims at engendering moral virtue. I argue that this understanding affords love a crucial place in educational curricula, as engaging the emotions can motivate both cognitive achievement and moral development. I first outline the state of the challenge between dominant rival theories regarding emotions in learning. Next, I demonstrate how Platonic virtue ethics offers the most tenable prospect for an education of reason and emotion. Third, I sketch three practical ways educators might constructively engage emotions in the classroom. I conclude that love’s virtue is its peerless power to motivate the creative and lateral thinking which leads to moral development.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled keywords: love, emotion, moral psychology, education, Plato
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
L Education > L Education (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Lauren Ware
Date Deposited: 30 Aug 2017 13:16 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Dec 2022 07:01 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/62974 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.