ABSTRACT
The nature of philosophy and the range of its methods are profoundly contested and philosophers tend anyway as they all know to their cost or amusement to make unconscious choices that favour their own aptitudes by reference to which they then define the discipline. The natural eromenos of the philosopher erastes is precisely someone wise or capable of wisdom. Wisdom is one of the most beautiful things, and Love is love of beauty, so it follows that Love must be a lover of wisdom and consequently in a state half-way between wisdom and ignorance. A lover of beauty could only 'love wisdom' if they were in a position to perceive it as 'one of the most beautiful things' and even then we can admire something beautiful without desiring it. There is a general comment to be made here on Plato's account of eros and beauty.
