Eros originally meant the force propelling every life-form from potentiality to actuality

Evidence

To understand the place of eros and eroticism in the classroom, we must move beyond thinking of those forces solely in terms of the sexual, though that dimension need not be denied. Sam Keen, in his book The Passionate Life, urges readers to remember that in its earliest conception “erotic potency was not confined to sexual power but included the moving force that propelled every life-form from a state of mere potentiality to actuality.” Given that critical pedagogy seeks to transform consciousness, to provide students with ways of knowing that enable them to know themselves better and live in the world more fully, to some extent it must rely on the presence of the erotic in the classroom to aid the learning process. — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, 388

Categorization

• DEFINE: Recovers the pre-sexual, life-force meaning of eros from Keen.
• XREF: Echoes Will to Power/creative drive concepts and Jungian libido as generalized psychic energy rather than sexual drive. — connects to: Transformation of consciousness depends on the erotic in the classroom; Greeks modeled physical motion on biological life rather than mechanical machines — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 866

Broader Connections

• Greeks modeled physical motion on biological life rather than mechanical machines #corroborates (0.85) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 866