Ninon de lEnclos, Letters - Friendship And Love - Sadler's Lectures

Podcast: Sadler's Lectures · Lectures on classic and contemporary philosophical texts and thinkers by Gregory B. Sadler

Opublikowano: 2026-10-31

This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern Epicurean and freethinker philosopher, courtesan, and writer Ninon de l'Enclos' Letters to Marquis de Sévigné, a work whose authenticity scholarship is divided upon, but which certainly seems reflective of her viewpoints. Specifically, it discusses the distinction she draws between two different attitudes we can have towards another person, one of which is (romantic or erotic) love, and the other of which is friendship. Love is based to a significant extent upon the physical attractiveness and charms of the person one feels love towards, and it aims at an exclusive relationship with th...