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Socrates on Love continued.... 2nd report. Section 4

In my last post, I briefly stated my views about love and why I do not agree with Socrates. To dig a bit deeper into that, I consider Socrates' view to be greatly influenced by Diotama's views. It seems as though her beliefs morphed into his. It's hard to say whether this is what Socrates actually believed about love or if his ideas were influenced by Diotama's views. Regardless, I do not agree with either of them. 

Setting aside my religious beliefs, I still not think that love falls between good and evil, a god and human, wisdom and ignorance, ugly and beautiful. I think love itself is beautiful. When people love someone or something, they are positively affected. I believe love in itself is a beautiful and good thing, without striving for it.

Favorite Philosopher

My favorite present day philosopher is Gretchen Rubin. She wrote a book called The Happiness Project that completely blew me away. She provided her opinions on what it takes to be happy and she gives a step by step guide on how to better yourself and choose happiness. She pieces together different philosophies that she used in order to create this incredible self help book. I took every word of it to heart and practiced some of the steps she provided, and it helped tremendously. In her book, not only does she provide step by step guide, but she also provides her own story and what makes her happy, regardless if it would work for the reader. 

She set aside time in her busy life to truly sit down and analyze happiness. She wondered what it actually takes to be happy, if it is something that someone can choose to be, if circumstances are a factor etc. Due to this, she found answers and shared these answers with the world. I think she is not only a magnificent philosopher, but also a magnificent author. To anyone reading this, I highly suggest reading her work It is wonderful.