The Transcendence of Love

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, on the surface, Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince" and Plato's "The Symposium" are so different than the casual reader would not be inclined to compare them but there are certain elements, which are deeply related: Both deal with a quest to understand the nature and implication of love. The author points out that the Little Prince travels across all the stars before he discovers the nature and necessity of love; Socrates travels throughout realms of philosophy in order to seek the true understanding of love. The paper relates that, though they come to different conclusions about the nature of love, many of their conclusions have certain similarities: In both cases, the transformation from ignorance to wisdom is vital to the understanding of love. It explains that the transformation is aided by the wisdom of an elder and the protagonist comes to understand that love is a transcendent power beyond the visible; however, the difference is the definition of transcendence makes Exupery's work essentially innocent in its physicality and Plato's work grown-up and oddly sterile in its denial of the body.

From the Paper:

"The two works are also similar in that both of the quests for love are aided by wisdom from outside the experience of the seeker. Plato is aided in his understanding by Diotima, and the Little Prince finds wisdom in the words of the Socrates whom he tames. Of course, there are significant differences in the relationship between Socrates' relationship with Diotima and the relationship between the Prince and the Fox, most notable that the former seems to be purely intellectual and the later is based in love itself. Socrates seems to be guided to an understanding of love through the intervention of wisdom, while the Prince comes both to understand wisdom and to understand love through the experience of love and the intervention of the beloved. Socrates is taught, the Prince is tamed, or at least becomes a tamer. "

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