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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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This relationship was based upon total compassion and love. Socrates was there in his Right’s last moments. He proved to be a loyal friend giving his own, fairly limited, wealth to better Right’s standard of living. This male relationship is different from the other two, in that it has much more vulnerability. Rather than Socrates serving as a mentor or challenger, he is serving as Right’s equal.

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He has no love for others, only love for what can give him more power, gold and governmental

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In this second quote, Socrates is saying that he possesses a certain wisdom given to him by the god to spread his philosophy and belief in the city of Athens. Here is a third piece of evidence to support my point from “ The Apology”. “Afterwards I went to talk to one person after another, sensing how odious I had become to them. I was sad and fearful; but I felt it was necessary to make the god’s work my highest priority.” (Lines 56-58)

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The language in Plato’s symposium and the expression of Sappho’s poetry are similar in that they both deal with homoerotic love. Sappho, the only ancient Greek female author whose work survived, talks from the female point of observation, where as Plato’s work concentrates on the idea of love among males. In spite of the fact that both of their points of view are comparative in courses, for example, their thoughts of physical fascination and want, Plato’s work creates a better understanding of the nature of love then Sappho’s ideas. This understanding will be shown with three arguments and counter- arguments in order to demonstrate the dominance of Plato over Sappho. It will than be concluded with an overview of the main idea and a recap of the three arguments made for Plato.

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One of the most well known figures, was the Plato’s Symposium. Plato was a philosopher in Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, whose symposium contemplated the relationship between Socrates and a young boy. At some point, this represented a model of simplicity and normality for the society. Furthermore, it became a sensational to the point that it made these “unacceptable” relationships, beautiful. However, those men who were involved in such type of relationships, were not considered

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The symposium is a book constructed on Plato’s conceptions around the passionate erotic love. To Plato and others during this time love (eros) was known as a god, with such beauty and goodness that others praise and competing for its entity. As a young boy of royalty older men would advertise themselves for a chance at love (eros). This was an opportunity to raise a boy into a man, teaching all the necessary tools needed for adulthood. Some of these roles as a partner included being sexual active.

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Friendship is an important part of the human life that guides human existence that guides how two humans in mutual understanding and relationship relate to each other. Nehamas and Woodruff (1989) provide Aristotle's description of friendship; that is goodwill that is reciprocated. Friendship is a phenomenon that happens every day in life amongst human beings with people falling in and out of friendship. There exist various kinds of friendships that are founded upon various needs, relations, and reasons. The source of the reciprocated goodwill brings the difference between perfect or complete friendships and imperfect or incomplete friendships.

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The existence and continual study of Socrates’ philosophy regardless of differing accounts is astonishing in itself since it survived not through the specific philosopher, but through other people. Which is a testament of the impact that a man, such as Socrates, can make. When we think of Plato, who is regarded as a father of western philosophy, we are quick to think of his major work The Republic, his student Aristotle, and his writing on Socrates. (We think of his writings on Socrates as mere footnotes in philosophical thought without examining them.) “Nothing comes from nothing,” Parmenides proudly claimed, and this philosophical doctrine applies to Plato’s thought.

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The various ideologies of love mentioned by speakers in Plato’s Symposium portrayed the social and cultural aspect of ancient Greece. In the text, there were series of speeches given by Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Socrates, and Agathon about the idea of love, specifically the effect and nature of Eros. Within the speakers, Agathon’s speech was exceptional in that his speech shifted the focus of the audience from effect of Eros on people, to the nature and gifts from the Eros. Despite Agathon’s exceptional remarks about Eros, Socrates challenged Agathon’s characterization of Eros through utilization of Socratic Method.

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Seeing the Athenians lovers suffering, he does not try to remedy it; instead, he sits aside and observe them, “Shall we their fond pageant see?/ Lord, what fools these mortals be!” (3.2.116-117). He thinks that the lovers’ foolishness is a source of entertainment, and such a chaotic situation a pageant. Although he restores love among four Athenians, he does it only because of Oberon’s order, not because he has any feeling of

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Another trait eros lovers have is that they believe in love at first sight. Romeo experiences this with Juliet when he is waiting for his love Rosaline, but then he spots Juliet in the faces of many and says, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!/ For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.” (i .iiiii.

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Through self-control. In this dialogue, Socrates explicitly states that the skills used to take care of what belongs to our bodies such as ring-making, or weaving do not make any of us self-controlled. Furthermore, someone who takes care of his body is taking care of something that belongs to his soul, and not himself (Plato, 131c). What Socrates is trying to do in this dialogue is help Alcibiades by teaching him that gaining self-control is to know himself, and before delving into the realm of politics it would be wise to know yourself in order to be a good politician. When you know yourself you are in full control of your actions which will guide you towards what is right and keep you away from what is wrong.

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Another thing Socrates is famous for is his twisting of nature in a paradoxical way to serve his own desire to persuade: to Socrates, virtue, wisdom, and eudaemonia are directly linked, a recurring idea in many of his dialogues. His definition of happiness and morality is far different from anyone else’s, especially from Callicles’ and Nietzsche who believes that the law of nature takes over (also perceived this way by Nietzsche). E.R. Dodds mentions the idea that Nietzsche finds a reflexion of himself in Callicles, ascetic Socrates’ most interesting interlocutor in the “Gorgias”. Interesting in the fact that Callicles appears to be a purely hedonistic personage, whose definition of a good life is one where all pleasures of the body are maximised,

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In Socrates’ first speech, he regards the rational non-lover as the superior, as they will never be tempted into shameful acts. He wishes to leave, but realizes it is foolish, and sees a daemon (a warning personified) so he corrects his mistake in the second speech. The lover can become holy, even more than the lover, but that comes with risks. They can only be holy with self restraint, without going too far.

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At last but not least, the author employs negative diction, such as: “vexed” (1.1.199), “madness” (1.1.200), and “gall” (1.1.201). “Vexed” denotes annoyed, and “madness” denotes insanity. Since Romeo is referring to love in such a negative way, this shows that Romeo is pessimistic about love. In this passage, the metaphors demonstrate that love is short-lasting, depressing, and conflicting. Due to the metaphor and negative diction in this passage, the author characterizes Romeo as a person who is conflicted and frustrated by love.

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