ESSAY ON: Socrates on “Love” in Plato’s “Symposium”

Number of Pages 5

This research paper: This is a 5 page paper discussing Socrates’ argument on “love” found in Plato’s “Symposium”. In Plato’s “Symposium”, Socrates refutes the claims of his companions that love is beautiful and that love is a god. To do this he uses the arguments he learned presented to him by his teacher Diotima. Through Diotima’s arguments we learn that Love had a mixed mortal/immortal parentage and because of this the nature of love is not immortal or beautiful but is considered in constant flow between the world of man and that of the gods and also holds the characteristics of its parents: from his mother Poverty, Love can be poor, ugly and ignorant; and from his father Plenty, he can be enterprising, wise or a hunter. As Diotima shows to Socrates that man ultimately finds that love is the possession of everlasting good and therefore will make him happy, she also explains why man’s eagerness for love is felt because of the need to procreate during the time when he is most beautiful. Despite this common desire in man, not all men desire the same things to make them happy which is further the result of Love’s flexibility and ability to bond all men. Bibliography lists 1 source.


File: D0_TJSlove1.rtf


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