From the book
Lysis
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPhilosophos means loving wisdom; a lover or friend of wisdom.
- In LysisAt 212d φιλόσοφοι stands in a deliberately varied series with lovers of horses, quails, dogs, wine, and exercise.
- Reading contextIt does not make philosophers equivalent to wine-lovers in character; the shared feature is the grammatical and affective relation to an object of attachment.
- A place to readThe Greek example means “lovers of wisdom, unless wisdom loves them back.”
- English renderings
- Loving wisdom; a lover or friend of wisdom
Meaning
Loving wisdom; a lover or friend of wisdom.
Grammatical category: adjective or noun.
Use in the book
At 212d φιλόσοφοι stands in a deliberately varied series with lovers of horses, quails, dogs, wine, and exercise. Requiring every loved object to love back would make wisdom’s lovers impossible unless wisdom returned their affection.
The example tests reciprocity as a universal requirement for φίλον. It does not make philosophers equivalent to wine-lovers in character; the shared feature is the grammatical and affective relation to an object of attachment.
Places to read
- 212dφιλόσοφοι, ἂν μὴ ἡ σοφία αὐτοὺς ἀντιφιλῇ — lovers of wisdom, unless wisdom loves them back.