L’intelligenza del desiderio: Platone e oltre

After addressing some introductory questions – how are we to comprehend Plato’s conception of desire? What is its relation to reason? And is the position defensible? – the Author responds to some familiar objections to Plato’s view, and argues that there are good reasons for taking his idea – that desire is a mode of cognition – seriously. In the second part of the essay, she draws out some implications for an understanding of the «ladder of love» and the nature of the envisaged spiritual ascent.