Plato's Reflection About Love And Beauty

The exquisite society to emerge will be governed by an elite comprised of gay poets. One of the major requirements for a position of power in the new society of homoeroticism will be indulgence in the Greek passion. Any man contaminated with heterosexual lust will be automatically barred from a position of influence. All males who insist on remaining

In Plato’s Hystera, Irigaray, through her writing, takes on the project of attempting to deconstruct the “Phallogocentrism”, the mandate of western culture of masculine ideal of exerting power by having a phallus which is the center of logos, speech and logic. The complications it faces is trying to deconstruct the “Phallogocentrism” in a culture that has been predominantly and forcefully construed as masculine. Our culture is subconsciously masculine dominated down to living, being, cosmos and everything by preserving masculinities fragile sense of power meaning our culture is filtered by masculinity. Therefore, we are already implicated in a system of masculinity in its own origins, it is an origin story without origin. The complications

Where beauty is the Each stage in the progression of the appreciation of beauty contained a relationship between an individual and a single object such as a person’s beauty or mind. It was during these connections that allowed for a deeper relationship to transpire as the level of exclusivity began to develop allowing the individual to further appreciate beauty. Specifically, the progress towards a higher understanding of beauty through the means of love starts with loving a single beautiful body then it moves to all beautiful bodies. Next, it transitions to beautiful practices, then to the beautiful forms of learning. From there it further transitions to recognizing that there is only beauty itself; thus, completing the process of learning the true qualities of beauty through love (Plato 49). Throughout the entire progression, Socrates’ idea regarding love contains an individual and another object or idea. Through this hierarchy of the progression, it seems to suggest that humans are constantly pursuing these forms of beauty for their particular love, and an exclusive bond forms during each phase as the individual appreciates their current understanding of beauty. Also, humans continuously pursue these forms of beauty in order to maintain their happiness and reach a level of immorality through love. And, as each person progresses

In Plato’s Symposium, sequential speeches praise the god of Love, but they stray from truth until Diotima’s speech provides a permanent form in which love “neither waxes nor wanes” (Sym. 211A). Through the speeches, love shifts from identifying with the concrete to the abstract, but still ultimately advances goals of present: Phaedrus sees love as helping “men gain virtue,” Aristophanes as only a “promise” to restore humans to their “original nature” and Pausanias and Eryximachus have to use two changing notions of love (Sym. 180B, 193D). In contrast, Diotima relates love as the closest humans can come to immorality, a future goal motivating us to seek completeness and an uninhibited timelessness. She uses this shift to explain love’s

Plato is often criticized for preaching the gospel of me first. The claim is that his understanding of love is essentially egoistic, and this is seen as troublesome for the obvious ethical reasons. But there may be an even more troubling issue with Plato's understanding of love. In this paper I will attempt to argue that for Plato, love is in a sense impossible; that it can only ever be a desire for something out of one's grasp. The stakes are high but perhaps there is a way to understand this problem in a way that seems a little less damning. To do this I will analyze arguments from the Lysis and the Symposium, first questioning even the possibility of love and then attempt to show that love is in fact possible, all though in weaker

Throughout history, society has often created division within gender roles and gender relations, typically at the expense of women. In Plato’s Republic, Plato devises his plausible ideal city, Kallipolis, which holds a very different notion of these gender roles and relations from the standard held in the early ages. It is quite progressive as both, men and women, are able to uphold the same positions at work and have access to the same education. This concept enhances and strengthens the unity of Plato’s ideal just city. Unfortunately, this progressiveness is cut short as Plato’s subtle misogyny comes into play – nonetheless, this does not interfere with the general structure of Kallipolis. Through analyzing Plato’s account on gender roles and gender relations with context of his ideal society, one is able to see that Plato’s subtle misogyny does not greatly affect the outcome of his city.

The repeated emphasis on honor, wisdom, and virtue is a recurring theme throughout greek homosexual relationships. The archetypes of the two male partners: the younger lover known as the ‘beloved’ (eromenos) and an older lover (erastes). Cantarella asserts that “love relationships, were also, in fact, intellectual ones that in some ways saw the beloved as the disciple and the lover as the master of life, ethics and civic education” (Cantarella, 8). It will come as no surprise that such relationships were especially prevalent among the upper class and were considered a denotation of wealth and station.

Studies concerning the lives of women in classical Athens have sparked much controversy because, despite the apparent fascination with femininity manifested in art and drama, we have no evidence voicing the opinions of the actual women themselves. This presents a

In order to understand how Homer and Sappho defy the gendered norms for women, one must first know the Greek’s gendered norms for women. Greek women lacked personalities,

In Ancient Greece, women were considered to be a treasure for a man to showcase, and therefore were expected to fit in the mold of a man’s ideal woman. In Homer’s The Odyssey, these perceptions of women influence their behavior, most noticeably in the expectations held on the female characters and the man’s perspective of women who do not fit a man’s ideal.

In the world of Ancient Greece, a large array of deities were worshipped. Each god had their own forms of identification in which they used to express themselves. This includes things such as personality, style, sexuality, and many other things. One of these forms of expression was gender. The Greeks seemed to focus more on the two typical genders, which are male and female. Some Greek gods seemed to play into certain gender roles, but others portrayed traits of the opposite sex. In this paper, I will be analysing the possibility that the Greeks believed the female and male genders were closely connected and that is why many of the gods are described with blended aspects of gender.

Love, in classical Greek literature, is commonly considered as a prominent theme. Love, in present days, always appears in the categories of books, movies or music, etc. Interpreted differently by different people, Love turns into a multi-faceted being.

Plato’s Symposium attempts to define the eclectic theory of love, a theory that is often believed to be the universal principle that guides mankind’s actions. Plato introduces several narratives in the form of a dialogue that seek to characterize this multifaceted theory of Eros. The meaning of love naturally varies in each narrative. Yet, in this dialogue of love, Plato presents a metaphysical approach to understanding the ambiguous meaning of love. Ultimately, Plato values the perennial quest for knowledge above all else. In Symposium, Platonic love is exhibited in the relationship between virtue and desire, as expressed in Diotima’s ladder. Desire is the vehicle, or the means to an end. The six Athenians ultimately present different

Throughout The Republic by Plato, the character of Socrates touches on many theories and ideas. One of the main ideas that carries all throughout the text, is the concept of beauty. Socrates comes up with specific rules on how beauty should be executed. Specifically concerning the type of music one may hear, the feelings one may share and how beauty is defined.

I remember growing up through the years, and I was always taught that once you die, your soul would float up to heave and that’s how you would live the rest of your days. This was my conception of the self; you would live out your days on earth but ascend to heaven once it was your time. Plato’s conception of the self is different from mine and is very interesting. Plato describes that your soul is immortal and that your body is just an obstacle for your body, that you gain all of this wisdom from when your soul finally leaves your body. This is very different from what I was taught during my childhood, and I think that Plato gives you a different way of thinking towards the body and the soul.