The Metaphysical Foundation of Buddhism and Modern Science

But the notion of mere knowledge, that is to say, of mere understanding,
is quite alien to Plato’s thought. The age of professors had not yet
arrived. In his view, the entertainment of ideas is intrinsically associated
with an inward ferment, an activity of subjective feeling, which is at once
immediate enjoyment, and also an appetition which melts into action. This
is Plato’s Eros, which he sublimates into the notion of the soul in the
enjoyment of its creative function, arising from its entertainment of
ideas. The word Eros means ‘Love’, and in The Symposium Plato gradually
elicits his final conception of the urge towards ideal perfection. It is
obvious the he should have
written a companion dialogue which might have been named The Furies,
dwelling on the horrors lurking within imperfect realization.
Plato, although he neglected to write this missing dialogue, did not
overlook the confusion and disorder in Nature. He expressly denies
omnipotence to his Supreme Craftsman. The influence of the
entertainment of ideas is always persuasive, and can only produce such
order as is possible. However, on this point he wavers, and sometimes
writes as if the Craftsman were disposing the world according to his
supreme will.
The notion of an excellence, partly attained and partly missed, raises
another problem which greatly exercised Greek thought at the time of
Plato. The problem can take many special forms. In what does beauty
consists, for example, the beauty of a musical melody, the beauty of a