In literary texts‚ Diotima‚ the “teacher” of Socrates in the Symposium‚ is often presented as a Beatrice-like figure which “inspires” creative men and guides them as a symbolic muse. However‚ in the immediate context of the speech of Socrates in the Symposium‚ Diotima was not a muse or an erotic-spiritual guide; she was a wise woman and priestess who taught Socrates the mysteries of love (Plato 31-34). The present paper calls for an adequate appreciation of Diotima’s status as a teacher‚ and - drawing
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With the inclusion of Alcibiades‚ Plato is taking a comic take on the absolute ruin of self that one faces through Socrates words. Straight from his introduction with‚ “Good evening‚ gentleman. I’m plastered‚” (Symposium 213 A) it appears‚ as this speech will be a random comedic interlude to distract from the ideas of the form that had just come about in the end of The Speech of Diotima. However‚ there is an underlying sense of tragedy and the ruin of self behind Alcibiades stories. Alcibiades is
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Starting at 210a of The Symposium‚ Diotima speaks with Socrates about reaching the final vision of the mysteries. She starts talking about a young boy who is starting to be attracted to beautiful bodies. He first loves one body; and then‚ realizing that all bodies are relatively alike‚ he begins to love all beautiful bodies. After that‚ he comes to appreciate the beauty of minds‚ not caring anymore about physical attraction. After all stages‚ the boy will ultimately come to loving beauty itself and
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He pretends to know what women think and feel‚ as he uses Diotima‚ a woman that he created to discuss the male sexual experience. In Halperin’s Why Is Diotima a Woman? the way in which Plato takes the female experience and makes it his own is discussed. “To turn “pregnancy” into a mere image of (male) spiritual labor‚ just as Socrates’s male voice at once embodies and disembodies Diotima’s female presence” (Halperin 139). This shows how Plato took the female experience of pregnancy and turns it into
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"Plato’s Symposium" Kaboom‚ that was the sound of Zeus’s thunder crashing towards the Earth. During this time period the people in Greece believed in these gods. Also happening at the same time period was when the worlds most famous philosophers began to come out and teach. Most importantly the philosophers did what they were suppose to‚ and that was to question the world around them. One of the most famous philosophers in the Greek period around 416 B.C. was a man named Socrates. Socrates was
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In the book‚” Plato’s Symposium‚” by Plato‚ who was a philosopher in Greece‚ he illustrates the dialectic discussion in a party at Agathon’s to celebrate his triumph of his first tragedy. In the Symposium; the guests Phaedrus‚ an Athenian aristocrat; Pausanias‚ the legal expert; Eryximachus‚ a physician; Aristophanes‚ eminent comic playwright; Agathon ‚a tragic poet and host of the banquet; Socrates‚ eminent philosopher and Plato’s teacher; and Alcibiades‚ a prominent Athenian statesman‚ orator and
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topic to talk about. Today‚ if people were to sit down and talk about it‚ it would most likely consist of talking about how to treat the other person you love‚ whether it is romantically or loving your friends and family. However‚ in the case of the Symposium‚ the men in this conversation took the topic more in depth than I could have imagined. I believe that Aristophanes had a very interesting opinion on love. I feel like although his argument is quite odd‚ it does bring up a good point that does connect
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9/20/2013 PHIL 203 Plato’s Symposium When most people think of love‚ they think of love between a man and woman‚ love between a father and son‚ mother and daughter‚ etc. Many do not think of love as a desire. However‚ Socrates‚ through his speech in Plato’s Symposium puts love in a different light. Plato’s Symposium examines the topic of love through the speeches of six men. These six men include Phaedrus‚ Pausanias‚ Eryximachus‚ Aristophanes‚ Agathon‚ and Socrates. When first reading this
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a very talented and intelligent girl. She was invited to attend the Gifted Symposium for her intelligence. Lindsey goes away to this symposium with other students in junior and high school. At the very end of the symposium‚ the students are given a challenge‚ normally it’s to create the best mouse trap‚ but they changed it up this year. The new challenge was how to commit the perfect murder. I think the Gifted Symposium was wrong by initiating a How to commit the perfect murder challenge‚ because
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In this week’s readings‚ my comprehension of love expanded via Plato’s Symposium. Similar to the Shiva Purana‚ some of the eulogies given in the text perpetuated males as the dominant gender. Furthermore‚ the text‚ especially Socrates eulogy‚ left me with several inquires. To begin‚ a parallel between the works is the concept of the importance of males and the dehumanization of females. For instance‚ in the Shiva Purana‚ although Shiva and Parvati were supposedly “in love‚” the only love prevalent
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