Abstract

In Intimacies, Leo Bersani and Adam Phillips argue that the ego is constitutionally threatened by difference, and they turn to Plato’s Phaedrus to locate a theory of Eros to combat this inherent aggressivity. They see in Plato’s dialogue an articulation of an Eros based in sameness and see this new account of love as a possible alternative way to form non-aggressive human relationships. While their account captures Plato’s revolutionary take on Eros, it does not discuss his equally revolutionary theory of rhetoric, a theory that recuperates difference as an essential feature of discourse. Plato’s relocation of rhetoric in private conversations transforms threat into risk and argues for the role of desire in constituting a subjectivity that is both private and political.