The Symposium By Plato Analysis

Plato’s idea that there was a perfect world of ideas affected this pieces subject and the

This leads to the individual being in a more of a harmony within themselves, and that beauty equates to the meaning of life, to where one may feel the well being of the world around them and in the individual. “Beauty was a much a feeling of harmony as it was visual.” (Silko, pg 65). Expressed by Silko, beauty wasn’t a status like in the so called “Western World”. Stated by Silko, “because the point of the procedure isn’t just cosmetic, it is social.” (Silko, pg 65). Instead, there is more of a deeper meaning, where beauty is more like a flower that is blooming and it is wonderful within each and every individual that is either alive or born in the community of the Laguna. “faces and bodies could not be separated from the hearts and souls.” (Silko, pg 65). As Silko illustrated, the beauty is like a seed. when it is nurtured to the point of it blooming into a sprout or a single leaf, this is the point where one’s own individuality and harmony with the surrounding is at peace. In addition, the person would find their center in their everyday life, which leads them to find joy in the activities that they always

To understand Plato’s argument, he gives us an interesting theory, his theory of forms. If we take the example of a beautiful person, not only does Plato say that there is the form of beauty and there is the beautiful person, but he also seems to say that there is the beauty present in that person which is distinct both from the person and from the form. (Lecture from 11/27). This beauty can come and go, and must, either withdraw or disappear at the approach of ugliness.

Socrates sees love as something that is in between being beautiful and ugly and believes that love is a search for beauty and wisdom. Much like Diotima, Socrates presses Agathon to have him admit that love is not beautiful as it desires beauty, and one does not desire what one already has therefore it is not beautiful. Socrates view contrasts with that of Aristophanes from the benefits of love to the nature of love, as Socrates sees no benefits in something that is not beautiful. Love is seen as primarily a relational property by Socrates that holds between things rather than a desire or a need for another person. Love is not itself beautiful or good or anything specific as much as it is a relation that holds between the beautiful, the good, and those who

In the Symposium Plato places Socrates in a dialogue with the goddess Diotima. She says two things of interest to this paper about love. Firstly, at 206a that humans when they love long to possess the good and do so for ever, and secondly that at 206b that "To love is to bring forth upon the beautiful, both in body and soul (Hamilton 558)." The first statement makes a claim about what love is, a desire to posses the good, and the second a statement about what love does, bring forth the beautiful. I will now briefly analyze both claims.

To introduce the argument, Socrates explains the theory of Forms. Forms are the intangible and visible components of anything that exists. They are the larger ideas that compose the reasons for why something exists. This being said, these are merely concepts that cannot be changed but rather they stand concrete in their meanings and ideals. An example of a Form is beauty. We can only recognize things that are beautiful because “all beautiful things are beautiful by the Beautiful” and they belong to the Form of beauty (Plato, pg. 138). Beauty only exists because it is an idea in which things fall into a category. Something can be recognized as beautiful, and it is therefore placed under the Form of beauty, and therefore, all things beautiful share the same meaning. The meaning of beauty will never be changed because it is a permanent idea that holds to be true. This issue stems into the idea that forms can change between each other, while still possessing individual meanings. Take the forms of tallness and smallness for example:

Plato’s view on form, is described with what a form contains. Form is divided into six characteristics which are: transcendent, pure, archetypes, ultimate real, causes and systematically interconnected. Forms are transcendent in that they cease to exist in time and space, in that we see that a form never changes. Plato uses the example of roundness to explain that a ball can change but its form of being round will always stay. Forms are pure and they stay true to their identity, by this we see that an object is made of several characteristics, these characteristics work together to make an object, but the form of the characteristics is always pure. If you have a tire, it is formed of many characteristics (black, round, etc.), but the tire is round so the roundness of the tire is just pure roundness, it doesn’t share any other

Looking back I also noticed that the other speaker who had referred to beauty was Phaedrus. However, I felt that Socrates had a more expressive and confusing version to Phaedrus. Socrates described love as something that brings about beauty but however, it is not necessarily beauty. Another thing I understood of Diotima’s explanation of the purpose of love was its purpose to give birth to beauty, through the body and the mind. Her example with pregnancy and that sex is an approach to give birth and with reproduction we reach

Plato's metaphor of the divided line is essentially two worlds; the world of opinion (the

When studying and discussing Classical Greece, the topics that first come to mind are likely to be its cultural and economic efflorescence, its range of tyrants, or Greek religion. While it may not be the first matter discussed in Classical studies, love and sexuality were a major factor in the lives of ancient people, just as they are today. Sources from this period can help us gain insight on the role of these factors during this time. These sources include the poetry of Sappho and Plato’s Symposium. This paper will explore the representations of love and sexuality passed through time using these sources that help create a more complete picture of Greek society and culture.

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

Plato was a philosopher from Classical Greece and an innovator of dialogue and dialect forms which provide some of the earliest existing analysis ' of political questions from a philosophical perspective. Among some of Plato 's most prevalent works is his dialogue the Symposium, which records the conversation of a dinner party at which Socrates (amongst others) is a guest. Those who talk before Socrates share a tendency to celebrate the instinct of sex and regard love (eros) as a god whose goodness and beauty they compete. However, Socrates sets himself apart from this belief in the fundamental value of sexual love and instead recollects Diotima 's theory of love, suggesting that love is neither beautiful nor good because it is the desire to possess what is beautiful, and that one cannot desire that of which is already possessed. The ultimate/primary objective of love as being related to an absolute form of beauty that is held to be identical to what is good is debated throughout the dialogue, and Diotima expands on this description of love as being a pursuit of beauty (by which one can attain the goal of love) that culminates in an understanding of the form of beauty. The purpose of this paper is to consider the speeches presented (i.e. those of Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, and Agathon) in Plato 's Symposium as separate parts that assist in an accounting of the definition and purpose of platonic love.

In the Symposium on that night, Socrates’ speech is one of the most important of the night as he is clearly a central figure, admired by the other guests. Socrates begins by presenting his argument that if love is nothing, then it is of something, and if it is of something, then it is of something that is desired, and therefore of something that is not already possessed, which is then usually beautiful and good. Human beings begin by loving physical beauty in another person, then progress to love of intellect and from that level to see the connection among people and ultimately, the lover of beauty enjoys a kind of revelation or vision of universal beauty, which we find ourselves in the pursuit of during our own study of Plato’s work. The

The definition of beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty has negative and positive influences on mostly people. Beauty is described by the inside and outside of us. Due to beauty, our self-esteem has been hurt dramatically, especially towards girls. Beauty is not always about our outside looks but it’s about our inside personality also.

In his poem, “But love whilst that thou mayst be loved again”, he focuses on warning women to find love soon because beauty will not last with age. He compares a woman’s beauty to a flower: “the fairest flower that ever saw the light / men do not weigh the stalk for what it was / when they find her flower, her glory, pass” (Daniel 6, 13-14). Through this metaphor, he shows how men view beauty in love. No one looks at a dead flower and thinks about what it used to be, rather, he or she looks towards other flowers that bloom with life and colour. This sonnet begins as an admiration for his subject’s beauty, but it ends by telling the subject that when her physical beauty deteriorates, no one will love her. This poem reflects society’s fixation on superficial beauty because it reminds women that they will never find love without external beauty, as a result of the superficiality of men in society. Both poems of the Renaissance Period assert the idea of perfection and the importance of physical beauty in love and relationships.