Let's start at the beginning, with the Ancient philosophers, who were hornier than most. In Plato's dialogue the Lysis, the character Socrates makes some important points about dating. One of the interlocutors, Hippothales, has been irritating his friends by endlessly singing the praises of Lysis, and generally being a bit of a forum-stalker. Socrates points out that these songs are really in worship of himself, since if Hippothales gets what he's after, then these songs are just "hymns of praise" bragging about what a beau stallion he's ridin'. Furthermore, the big S points out, " if he slips away from you, the more you have praised him, the more ridiculous you will look at having lost this fairest and best of blessings."
Axiom #1: Coming on too strong makes you look either smug or foolish.
He then teaches Hippothales how to speak to your lover by engaging Lysis in philosophical dialogue. Socrates questions him on the nature of friendship, and by a cunning argument gets Lysis to admit that "it follows that the lover who is genuine and true must of necessity be loved by his love". The meaning of this is slightly tortured, partly because of the translation, and partly because of the complexities of queer pronouns. But it means basically that by loving someone and being a good "friend" to them, they are forced to love and be a friend to you, based upon the logic that friendship is a shared partnership, and cannot be one-sided. When Lysis accepts this argument, it makes Hippothales "change into all manners of colours by delight". It is the first blush in all of western literature.
Some philosophers might argue that the Lysis is an open-ended, dialectical discussion on the nature of friendship: a philosophical treatise. But clearly, there's more sexual politics here than the average episode of Skins, and it has an effect on the philosophy. It's not what Plato says - which is clearly just designed to seduce Lysis - but the way he says it. He doesn't expound his views in dusty logic, but givesa slightly-queen acting masterclass in the art of seduction. He seems to argue that rather than praising them to the heavens, you should use all the logic you can muster, and impress them with your mind. So rather than writing poems and songs...
Some philosophers might argue that the Lysis is an open-ended, dialectical discussion on the nature of friendship: a philosophical treatise. But clearly, there's more sexual politics here than the average episode of Skins, and it has an effect on the philosophy. It's not what Plato says - which is clearly just designed to seduce Lysis - but the way he says it. He doesn't expound his views in dusty logic, but givesa slightly-queen acting masterclass in the art of seduction. He seems to argue that rather than praising them to the heavens, you should use all the logic you can muster, and impress them with your mind. So rather than writing poems and songs...
...Axiom #2: Take advantage of their stupidy, and get them into bed with a syllogism.
