On How to Be Judgmental About Eros (Ron Haflidson)

About this episode

Ron Haflidson explores the concept of eros through the lens of Genesis and The Symposium, highlighting similarities and differences in the portrayal of love.

Recording of a lecture delivered on December 9, 2026, by Annapolis Assistant Dean Ron Haflidson, as part of the Formal Lecture Series. Mr. Haflidson offers the following description of his lecture: "In Genesis, when the Man first meets the Woman, he says: 'This one at last, bone of my bones/ and flesh of my flesh…'. Then, the narrator adds, 'Therefore does a man leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife and they become one flesh.' In The Symposium, Aristophanes offers this pithy summary of the origin of love: 'Before…we were one, but now, because of our injustice, we have been split up and scattered by the god…We were whole, and the name for our yearning for and pursuit of wholeness is Love.' Both stories identify three moments in eros. First, in the present, there is an encounter with another with whom one feels an immediate and intense unity. Second, that experience of unity is partially explained by a strange, forgotten past. And then, third, that experience becomes a task for the future, as the lovers labor to make it an ongoing, sustained reality. Despite this cluster of similarities, there is also a difference with much at stake: in Genesis, the erotic…

People in this episode

Guest: Ron Haflidson

Topics covered

• eros
• love
• Genesis
• The Symposium
• relationships
• unity

Keywords

• eros
• love
• Genesis
• The Symposium
• relationships
• unity
• Aristophanes
• marriage

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Genesis, The Symposium

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