Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers the relation between language and desire from different perspectives. It deals with special cases of Aristotle’s moral theory: his account of moral character, and that of philia, or friendship. Scholarly interest in the confluence of the fields of ancient Greek thought and feminism has been on the rise since the 1970s in Anglo-American academies. The book offers papers ranging from classical Greek philosophy through the Hellenistic periods. It also deals with a passage from Epicurus in which “women” and “boys” are listed in parallel fashion with “drinking bouts,” “fish,” and other “luxuries” of the table as things that do not conduce to the truly pleasant life. The implications of Diotima’s mode of narrative for contemporary feminism, particularly French feminism, are twofold.