Plato Symposium Essay

Finally, toward the end of the Symposium, Socrates speaks, giving an accurate account of love and the correct use of Eros. He opposes all of the other speakers and says that love is not all about our pleasure and sexual deviances, but to either impregnate the body and give life, or to impregnate the soul and pass on knowledge. Socrates speaks as if Eros is a love for the other person, to love someone so much that you want to enter into a bond that results in child rearing or a love for mankind

When reading the Symposium, some may think Alcibiades is a man simply because he has a penis, but this is false. Yes, he is physically a man, but that is assuming the essentialist view, which is based on anatomy. The essentialist view states that because someone has a penis, they are a man. However, using Luce Irigaray’s non-essentialist view, this is not what constitutes a man. In “The Sex Which is not One” and “When Our Lips Speak Together” Irigaray explains that women don’t need the “two lips”

Aristophanes views erotic love as a punishment originating from God (Solomon & Higgins, 1991, p. 18). A punishment due to the fact that erotic love involves searching for our soulmate and until we find our missing half, we are incomplete (Solomon & Higgins, 1991, pp. 18-19). Comparatively, Alcibiades views on erotic love is shown in how he longs for his love interest, Socrates. Unfortunately, Alcibiades pursuit of Socrates fails and he experiences being rejected by Socrates (Solomon & Higgins, 1991

In Plato's Symposium, the great radical thinkers of Greece gather around and talk about passion and Eros before their participating in their own mischievous acts themselves. Phaedrus great speech about Eors will be evaluated connecting the ties between Eros, passion, and lovers. The speech of Phaedrus is saying that the God of love is great. " For the God is held in honor as eldest among them, said he. An indication that Eros has no parents, nor does anyone, layman, or poet, claim he does"(118)

In Symposium, Socrates concludes philosophers lack wisdom because they love wisdom. The concept of love starts with Agathon’s speech on Love’s characteristics. Agathon describes Love as a god that is “most beautiful and the best” (Symposium 197c). Socrates refutes that the object love desires is beautiful because love is directed toward an object. Once love is directed toward an object it means that love lacks it because you cannot desire an object that you possess and therefore, love is not beautiful

Agathon is a poet. He claims in order to talk about Love; you have to describe his qualities. There are 3 qualities that Love have, beauty, youth, and goodness page 180 line 196a- 196b. He then gives details that Love makes humans moral by giving them 4 cardinals virtues. Above line 196c Agathon stated " Love is neither the cause nor victim of any injustice; he does no wrong to gods or men, nor they to him. If anything has an effect on him, it's never by violence…" Thus to say the 1st virtue is

justice to the discussion of the higher truth and all that it entails. The work is widely considered to be one of the greatest works of philosophy of all time and perfectly encapsulates the Socratic method of critical thinking and augmentative skills. Plato was the writer of the work but never played a role in it, instead only recording his mentor Socrates. This source was chosen due to its direct discussion concerning the famous “analogy of the sun.” From 507b-509c, Socrates and Glaucon – Plato’s older

some of us have been in love. But no one ever seems to question what love is, as if it is something that just plainly is. People tend to just go with it, and think that what they are feeling is really complete and substantial love. In Plato’s The Symposium, the reader is confronted with some very different views of love as brought to us by Agathon, Phaedrus and Socrates, to name a few. Each man at the dinner party has a different point of view on the issue of love. Some of the men are old lovers, and

Though not as philosophical as many of Plato's other works, The Symposium gives a greater in depth account and characterization into the social life of the intellectual circles in Ancient Greece. The eulogies from each of the philosophers at the discussion examine the origins and theories of love in its many forms. Several of the theories and themes discussed in The Symposium are repeated as well as contrasted by each of the orators. The themes of physical love and lust, and reproduction are most

Kendrick Narcisse Philosophy 12/21/16 Understanding Of Love: In both plays, Antigone and The Symposium the theme of love is apparent, but not always through the same lens. Through the dynamism of characters Antigone and Socrates we can see the differences and similarities in the understandings of love and connect the two. In Antigone’s case, her character is very dynamic and has a very interesting role by showing very distinct personality traits and someone who holds strong to their convictions