The Phaedrus : Love And Its Effects On The Soul

The Phaedrus dialogue is one of the masterpieces of philosophical and artistic prose of Plato. The work presents a philosophical debate between Socrates and Phaedrus. Socrates, as expressed by Plato, refutes the false eloquence and proves that the rhetoric should be based on philosophy. In this dialogue, Plato also argues the meaning of true love, the way it is connected with the soul, and how the soul can be incorporated into the frame of art and beauty. Phaedrus covers the most significant aspects

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)

and power of love as experienced by humans has led them to write songs throughout the ages. It has also resulted in verses and stories about love which they describe as the indescribable and mysterious force that leads them to the peaks of felicity as well as to the depths of despair. Love is the ultimate human concern. It is also the object of all human striving as well as the universal principle engirdling all human activities (Brent Linge 3). The need to examine and explore love to its very depths

dialogue with his students, Socrates argues the various ways the immortal soul can continue in the afterlife. Phaedo relates this dialogue to many other students of Socrates as well as the general public. The third argument Socrates posits is his his theory of anamnesis, also known as the theory of Recollection. Socrates remarks that we all contain fragments of non-empirical knowledge before we are born and that implies that our soul existed before then as well. It stands to reason that it will be there

Plato 's Symposium is written in such a manner that each speech accounted has at least one insight into the nature of love or Eros that is latter expanded, contradicted or confirmed by the speech given by Socrates using Diotima 's wisdom. Plato was very wise in his teaching on love, progressing from the simple to the much more complex, climaxing with the with the recounted exchange of Socrates and Diotima and then finalizing the instruction with a comical, but well-placed praise of the paragon of

The Symposium: A Philosophers Guide to Love As much as our society has become involved in the advancement of feminism and the equality of the sexes, there is one fact that neither gender can ignore; none can survive without the other. Love and the want of a soul mate keeps each member of man and womankind in constant search of the perfect person with whom to become one. Yet if this bond is a necessity of the human race then why has the meaning, purpose and pursuit of it eluded us for so many

Plato’s, Phaedrus, Plato describes what has become known as the Tripartite Soul which describes the human soul as having three parts corresponding to the three classes of society in a just city. Individual justice consists in maintaining these three parts in the correct power relationships, which reason ruling, spirit aiding reason, and appetite obeying. In ‘A Study of Human Nature’ Plato tries to explain his Tripartite theory by ways of a parable, a vivid illustration which describes the soul as having

Phaedrus, an aristocrat, takes the stage first at the symposium. He explains that Erōs is one of the primordial gods, and that the love between a boy and a lover is the greatest love that exists. The lover is meant to guide the boy, and the two must lead each other to examine themselves and feel ashamed. “...[The boy] is especially ashamed before his lover when he is caught in something shameful” (Sym. 178E). Phaedrus later adds that “...Love is...the most powerful in helping men gain virtue and

Love is a dominant theme in Greek Literature. We see it in our everyday lives, in music and television, as something that can be interpreted in all kinds of ways; love is multi-sided. There exist various different ways to understand love. Plato’s Symposium uses the speeches of six characters to demonstrate the domains of love. The Symposium’s liveliness and entertainment, as well as its characterization, plays a large role in depicting the social life of powerful Athenians in ancient times and their

divine Beauty. Beauty is intended to lead to Love, which Diatoma defines as wanting to possess beautiful things forever . Once a man possesses beautiful things, he achieves love and is happy. A man comes to possess beautiful things through the process of reproduction. In reproduction, lovers attempt to preserve their beauty by transmitting their beauty to offspring. The lovers are successful if they give birth to beauty, “whether in body or soul” . Reproduction immortalizes the parents’ beauty