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Plato's Symposium

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In The Symposium, Plato makes Eryximachus say that Socrates is undoubtedly a master of the art of love. Why? I think that he is trying to say that a great philosopher and wise man like Socrates is able to tame love and he doesn't need sexual gratification or pleasure to satisfy him. When he is interested in young boys, it doesn't mean that he is physically attracted to them, he is attracted to the fact that he can lead one of these particular boys to see the true form of beauty. Plato is trying to say that the only love that Socrates truly needs is the love of wisdom and he can go on living happily. He is such a master of love that he doesn't need the lower loves to be satisfied like most people do, he needs the highest love and that is the …show more content…

In The Symposium, Socrates through Diotima says: “It follows that Love must be a lover of wisdom and that all lovers of wisdom, that is, all philosophers, like Love himself, are somewhere in between total ignorance and complete omniscience” (Plato 305). The reason why I believe Plato included the idea that Socrates is the master of love is to get to this point so he could say that Socrates is the essence of love. He lives simply, he's brave and courageous, he is poor like the God of Poverty, he loves wisdom like the God of Resource, and he acts humble while also perpetuating his brilliance. Socrates has all the qualities that love has and also all the qualities that he received from his parents so he is exactly like Love and is therefore the master of love in the sense that he is exactly like Love in every …show more content…

Alcibiades is very famous in Greek culture and he is in love with Socrates who was his teacher but why does he feel such affection for someone who was considered ugly. The only logical reason in my eyes is that Alcibiades is obsessed with Socrates based on the fact that Socrates is the master of love and can make people fall in love with him without them even knowing why. Alcibiades proves his obsession with Socrates by practically begging him to be his lover in The Symposium, he says to Socrates: “Please take me or my money or that of my friends; anything at all. For my greatest hope is to become the best I possibly can, and only you can help me do that” (Plato 320). Plato includes this quote to prove that Socrates is indeed the master of love because he pretty much casts a spell on Alcibiades that makes him attracted to something in Socrates that is not physical. The thing that Alcibiades is attracted to in Socrates is his wisdom because his ugliness wouldn't attract someone so handsome like Alcibiades. Socrates is the master of love in the sense that he can make people love his wisdom which is the best kind of love more than any physical characteristic. Anyone so ugly like Socrates who can make such a handsome man like Alcibiades fall in love with him over his wisdom rather than his beauty, has to be

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