Does Phaedrus Make?

Plato’s Symposium
Study Questions

1. Phaedrus 178a – 180b
2. Pausanias 180c – 185c
3. Eryximachus 185d – 188e
4. Aristophanes 189a – 193e
5. Agathon 194a – 197e
6. Socrates 198a – 201c
7. Diotima Part I 201d – 206b
8. Diotima Part 2 206c – 209e
9. Diotima Part 3 210a – 212b (SGR)
10. Alcibiades Part 1 212c – 217a
11. Alcibiades Part 2 217b-223a

PHAEDRUS:

1. Who (or what) is love, according to Phaedrus?
2. According to Phaedrus why is love so beneficial?
3. Why is an army of lovers such a good idea?
4. Why does Phaedrus use Alcestis as an example of a lover?
5. Why is Orpheus considered a bad example of a lover?
6. What criticism of Aeschylus does Phaedrus make?
7. According to Phaedrus, why did the gods honor Achilles more highly than Alcestis?
8. What can we learn from this speech?
Is any of this relevant to us?

PAUSANIAS:

1. According to Pausanias, what are the two Aphrodites? How would you describe the sort of love that each inspires?
2. What is the situation, according to Pausanias, with homosexual relationships in parts of Greece other than Athens? Why is this the case?
3. According to Pausanias, how does a lover (erastes) act? Why is this not reprehensible?
4. What is the response of the beloved (eromenos)? Why?
5. How does Pausanias distinguish between good and bad love?
6. When is it honorable for the beloved to gratify the lover? What does he mean by “to gratify”?
7. What can we learn from this speech? Is any of this relevant to us?

ERYXIMACHUS:

1. What is Eryximachus’ profession? How does this make him an expert on love?
2. What do love and medicine have in common?
3. How does he explain love in musical terms?
4. According to Eryximachus, what is the purpose of love?
5. How do the seasons and cooking relate to love?
6. Is this a good speech?
7. In the overall structure of the work, what are the purposes of Eryximachus’s speech?
8. How does this relate to Platonic philosophy of the soul?

ARISTOPHANES:

1. According to Aristophanes, how many sexes were there originally? Explain.
2. What was the source of these sexes?
3. Why was Zeus distressed and what did he do?
4. What, according to Aristophanes, is the source of the belly-button?
5. How did Zeus revise his plan?
6. How, then, does Aristophanes explain the existence of love?
7. How does this theory explain the existence of male homosexuals, lesbians, and heterosexuals?
8. Which of these three categories does Aristophanes admire most and why?
9. What is peculiarly ‘modern’ about Aristophanes’ theory?

AGATHON:

1. Why does Socrates think that Agathon will give such a great speech? (NB: there is additional insight to this question in the speech of Alcibiades)
2. According to Agathon, what are the characteristics about love?
3. Who (or what) is Agathon really describing?
4. What is Love’s relationship with ugliness?
5. What is the tone of Agathon’s speech?
6. What is this speech’s intended purpose?

SOCRATES:

1.
Who was Socrates?
2. What is Socrates’ complaint about Agathon’s eulogy?
3. What points does Socrates make about the nature of love in his conversation with Agathon?
4. According to Socrates, what is the relationship between Love and beauty?
5. Why does Agathon take back everything he just said?
6. What do we call the approach that Socrates uses in pursuing the right answer with Agathon?
DIOTIMA Part I:

1. Who is Diotima? Is she real?
2. Why would Socrates make up the character of Diotima?
3. According to Diotima, why is love not a god? What then is love? What is his function? How does this pick up on ideas developed by Eryximachus?
4. Who were the parents of Love, according to Diotima? How did they produce a child?
5. How does the parentage of Love affect its characteristics?
6. According to Diotima, what is the goal of the lover of the beautiful? Why?
7. How does Diotima define love?

DIOTIMA Part 2:

1. Why is procreation an important part of love?
2. What do immortality and harmony have to do with procreation?
3. What is the difference between pregnant in body and pregnant in mind? Which is better and why?
4. What does Diotima mean by ‘spirtual
procreation’?
5. Why does Diotima use Homer and Hesiod as examples here? What are they examples of? How do they relate to her discussion of procreation?
6. Why is Diotima, an authority on homosexual love, a woman?

DIOTIMA Part 3:

1. What are the “Mysteries of Diotima”?
2. How does one go from the contemplation of beautiful bodies to understanding the beauty of a triangle?
3. How does this part of the speech relate to Platonic philosophy, most notably, the forms?
4. How could you argue that all of the previous speeches are like terraces leading up to the Mysteries of Diotima?

ALCIBIADES Part I:

1. Describe Alcibiades’ entrance to the party.
2. What criticism of Socrates does Alcibiades make when he first sees him?
3. What does Alcibiades have to say about Socrates as a drinker?
4. What is the purpose of Alciabiades’ speech?
5. How is Socrates like a figure of Silenus?
6. Why does Alcibiades think that Socrates looks like Marsyas?

ALCIBIADES Part 2:

1. What is the relationship between Alcibiades and Socrates? What had it been previously?
2. How did Alcibiades attempt to seduce Socrates? How did that go?
3. What does Socrates mean by “gold for bronze” (219a)
4. What is true beauty, according to Socrates?
5. How does Alcibiades describe Socrates as a soldier?
6. Why does Alcibiades warn Agathon? What does he warn him about?
7. What is its function of this speech in the work as a whole?