I enjoyed the topic that Professor Borck was speaking on- the idea of platonic friendship and how it has an inevitable affect on the world of politics is a different way of thinking about love, as usually we focus on romantic love. At times it was hard for me to follow the lecture, since she hit on so many important and philosophical points, but I felt the lecture was very smart and different from anything else I had heard.
The point that struck me the hardest was that to have a friend, you must have an enemy. Love, which is embodied within friendship, must always be accompanied by hate, embodied within the enemy. This feels very true to me, as I think, generally, that we experience a balance of good and bad in life. Life cannot be purely good or purely bad- the balance is what makes the experience of life unpredictable and worthwhile. There must always be the lack, the lack that affects us so deeply and motivates us to succeed, to learn and grow whether we like it or not.
This is especially true in war- when you choose someone to align yourself with, you also choose someone to be against, someone to fight. The extremity of the love and hate divide in war sometimes causes wars to go on indefinitely, because no one is willing to budge and love nor hate have entirely succumbed the other.
I thought Borck did a great job of comparing the two philosopher's perspectives on this issue- she really did her research and it was clear she cared about what she was saying. However, I felt the lecture could have used some visuals- as a visual person, I learn from seeing what the lecturer is speaking about and it is also nice to have as a focal point so I am not staring at the lecturer the entire time.
Overall, the lecture was worthwhile and some deep, interesting perspectives considering love as it applies to friendship in politics and war. It was not a topic I knew much about beforehand, and I am glad I recorded the lecture so I can revisit it in the future.
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