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Eroticism is an aesthetic focused on sexual desire, especially the
feelings of anticipation of sexual activity. It is not only the
state of arousal and anticipation, but also the attempt through
whatever means of representation to incite those feelings. The word
"eroticism" is derived from the name of the Greek god of love, Eros.
It is conceived as sensual love or the human sex drive (libido).
Philosophers and theologians discern three kinds of love: eros,
philia, and agape. Of the three, eros it considered the most
egocentric, focusing on care for the self. Ancient Greek
philosophy’s overturning of mythology defines in many ways our
understanding of the heightened aesthetic sense in eroticism and the
question of sexuality. Eros was after all the primordial god of
unhinged sexual desire in addition to homoeroticism. In the Platonic
ordered system of ideal forms, eros corresponds to the subject's
yearning for ideal beauty and finality. It is the harmonious
unification not only between bodies, but between knowledge and
pleasure. Eros takes an almost transcendent manifestation when the
subject seeks to go beyond itself and form a communion with the
objectival other. This corresponds to attaining orgasm in erotic
love-making. Yet an objection to eros and erotic representation (pornography)
is that it fosters a subject/object relationship in which the object
of desire is mere projection of the needs of desiring subject. Love
as eros is considered more base than philia (friendship) or agape (self-sacrificing
love). But erotic engagement paradoxically individuates and
de-individuates the desirer.
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