The Symposium (Plato)
Socrates begins by asking Agathon whether or not Love is love of something or other, in the same way as a father is a father of a son or a daughter or the way a brother is the brother of a sister or a brother. Agathon agrees that Love is certainly love of something, which prompts Socrates to secure Agathon's further agreement that Love desires what it is love of. If Love desires what he loves, that would suggest that, necessarily, he does not have the object of his desire in his possession. When we desire something we have--for instance, a healthy person who wants to be healthy--what we desire is to continue to have that thing in the future, not in the present.
Socrates then recalls what Agathon said that Love is of: for one thing, Agathon suggested that the gods are organized through a love of beautiful things. From this, Socrates has Agathon agree that Love must be love of beauty, which in turn implies that Love itself must be wholly without beauty. Agathon admits that Socrates is right and that he was wrong. Socrates goes on to point out that if good things are beautiful, then Love must also be lacking in good things, and cannot himself be good. Agathon surrenders, saying that he cannot argue against Socrates. Socrates replies that it is easy to argue against Socrates, but that Agathon cannot argue with the truth.
>>>>
Socrates continues his discussion of Love by restating an account given to him by a woman named Diotima. He claims that he once held the opinions expressed by Agathon and that Diotima convinced him he was mistaken through a series of questions similar to those Socrates has just asked Agathon. Thus, Socrates picks up where he left off in his dialogue with Agathon, only he now presents himself as being in Agathon's position, and presents Diotima as taking his role.
Having been convinced that Love is not beautiful or good, Socrates asks Diotima if that means Love is ugly and bad. Diotima argues that not everything must be either one thing or its opposite. For instance, having unjustified true opinions is neither wisdom nor ignorance. Wisdom consists in justified true opinions, but one would hardly call a true opinion ignorant.
Diotima points out that, in spite of himself, Socrates has denied that Love is a god altogether. They have concluded that Love is not good and beautiful because he is in need of good and beautiful things. No one would deny that a god is both happy and beautiful, and yet Love seems to be neither of these things. Then, Socrates asks, does that mean that Love is mortal? Diotima replies once more that not everything must be one thing or its opposite. Love is neither mortal nor immortal, but is a spirit, which falls somewhere between being a god and being human.
Spirits, Diotima explains, serve as intermediaries between gods and humans. They convey prayers and sacrifices from humans to gods, and send gifts and commands from gods to humans. The gods never communicate directly with humans, but only through the medium of spirits, who are the source of all divination. There are many kinds of spirits, Love being but one.
Love was conceived at a feast to celebrate the birth of Aphrodite, goddess of love. Resource, the son of Invention, got quite drunk and lay down to sleep in the garden of Zeus. Poverty crept up on Resource and slept with him, hoping to relieve her lack of resources by having a child with Resource. Love is the child that Poverty conceived by Resource. Because he was conceived on Aphrodite's birthday, Love has become her follower, and has become in particular a lover of beauty. As the child of Resource and Poverty, Love is always poor, and, far from being sensitive, he is very tough, sleeping out of doors on the rough ground. Like his mother, he is always in a state of need, but like his father, he can scheme to get what he wants. Being neither mortal nor immortal, Love may shoot into life one day only to die the next and then return to life the following day.
Love is also a great lover of wisdom. None of the gods love wisdom because they are already wise and do not need wisdom, nor do the ignorant love wisdom since they do not realize that they need wisdom. Love falls between ignorance and wisdom because his father, Resource, is both wise and resourceful, while his mother, Poverty, is neither. Diotima suggests that Socrates' earlier grandiose claims about Love's greatness were directed at the object of love and not the lover himself. Beauty, perfection, and so on, are the qualities of the things we love, but the lover himself is not at all like this.
>>>>>>
Next, Diotima asks Socrates why Love is love of beautiful things or of good things. Socrates replies that Love wants these things to become his own so that he will be happy. Diotima has Socrates agree that everyone always wants good things and happiness to be theirs forever. In that case, everyone would be a lover, but we only call certain people lovers. The reason is that, while everyone is in love, we only call a certain class of those in love "lovers." This is similar to the fact that while everyone who creates composes something, we would only call those who create music "composers."
So while love constitutes a desire for all kinds of good things and happiness, those who are money-makers, athletes, or philosophers are not normally called "lovers." Diotima dismisses the idea (that was put forth by Aristophanes) that lovers are in search of their other half, claiming instead that lovers love what is good. We would be willing to have limbs amputated if we thought they were diseased and bad, suggesting that we only want to be attached to what is good. Socrates and Diotima agree that love is the desire to have the good forever.
Diotima's next move is to ask in what way people pursue love. She cryptically claims that Love's function is "giving birth in beauty both in body and in mind." All people, she asserts, are pregnant in body and mind and naturally want to give birth when they reach a certain age. Sex is one means of giving birth, and it is through reproduction that we achieve immortality. This process is divine and therefore beautiful. Beauty is the goddess that presides over birth, allowing pregnant creatures to become pregnant and give birth when they are in contact with something beautiful. Thus, the object of love is not beauty, but reproduction in birth and beauty. Since love is the desire to have the good forever, we must desire immortality as well as the good, and in reproduction we come closest to immortality. All mortal things desire reproduction, and we see this even in birds and animals: they seek partners desperately, and will protect their young with their lives.
Diotima points out that though we talk about the "same person," we are not the same at all throughout our lives. Our body changes, as does our mind and our knowledge so that in old age we are nothing like what we were when we were young. We maintain ourselves in existence by replacing the old with the new, and so reproduction is just one further way of extending our lives.
Similarly, Diotima sees a drive for immortality in our search for honor. She suggests that Alcestis and Achilles would not have died for their lovers had they not known their heroism would be immortalized.
There are two ways men can become pregnant: in body and mind. Those who are pregnant in the body seek out women with whom they can reproduce and create a bodily heir. Those who are pregnant in mind bring forth not bodies, but wisdom and other virtues. Thus, a man pregnant in mind will seek out one who is beautiful in mind as well as in body. The bond created between a man and a boy with whom he shares his wisdom is far stronger than a familial bond since ideas are more immoral than people. We worship poets like Homer and Hesiod and lawmakers like Lycurgus and Solon for the immortal "children'' they have created from their minds.
>>>>
Next, Diotima asks Socrates why Love is love of beautiful things or of good things. Socrates replies that Love wants these things to become his own so that he will be happy. Diotima has Socrates agree that everyone always wants good things and happiness to be theirs forever. In that case, everyone would be a lover, but we only call certain people lovers. The reason is that, while everyone is in love, we only call a certain class of those in love "lovers." This is similar to the fact that while everyone who creates composes something, we would only call those who create music "composers."
So while love constitutes a desire for all kinds of good things and happiness, those who are money-makers, athletes, or philosophers are not normally called "lovers." Diotima dismisses the idea (that was put forth by Aristophanes) that lovers are in search of their other half, claiming instead that lovers love what is good. We would be willing to have limbs amputated if we thought they were diseased and bad, suggesting that we only want to be attached to what is good. Socrates and Diotima agree that love is the desire to have the good forever.
Diotima's next move is to ask in what way people pursue love. She cryptically claims that Love's function is "giving birth in beauty both in body and in mind." All people, she asserts, are pregnant in body and mind and naturally want to give birth when they reach a certain age. Sex is one means of giving birth, and it is through reproduction that we achieve immortality. This process is divine and therefore beautiful. Beauty is the goddess that presides over birth, allowing pregnant creatures to become pregnant and give birth when they are in contact with something beautiful. Thus, the object of love is not beauty, but reproduction in birth and beauty. Since love is the desire to have the good forever, we must desire immortality as well as the good, and in reproduction we come closest to immortality. All mortal things desire reproduction, and we see this even in birds and animals: they seek partners desperately, and will protect their young with their lives.
Diotima points out that though we talk about the "same person," we are not the same at all throughout our lives. Our body changes, as does our mind and our knowledge so that in old age we are nothing like what we were when we were young. We maintain ourselves in existence by replacing the old with the new, and so reproduction is just one further way of extending our lives.
Similarly, Diotima sees a drive for immortality in our search for honor. She suggests that Alcestis and Achilles would not have died for their lovers had they not known their heroism would be immortalized.
There are two ways men can become pregnant: in body and mind. Those who are pregnant in the body seek out women with whom they can reproduce and create a bodily heir. Those who are pregnant in mind bring forth not bodies, but wisdom and other virtues. Thus, a man pregnant in mind will seek out one who is beautiful in mind as well as in body. The bond created between a man and a boy with whom he shares his wisdom is far stronger than a familial bond since ideas are more immoral than people. We worship poets like Homer and Hesiod and lawmakers like Lycurgus and Solon for the immortal "children'' they have created from their minds.
>>>210-212
Diotima shares with Socrates the process by which one can attain the final visions of the mysteries. One begins as a young boy by being attracted to beautiful bodies, and to one beautiful body in particular, and produces beautiful discourses with this body. The next stage is to recognize that all bodies are relatively similar and that it is foolish to love only one body in particular. Thus, the boy will come to love all beautiful bodies. Next, he will come to appreciate the beauty of minds, and will be able to love those who are beautiful in mind whether or not they are beautiful in body. Recognizing the beauty in practices and laws, he will come to see that all kinds of beauty are similar and come to love beauty in general rather than beauty of bodies in particular. Looking at the different forms of knowledge, he will become a lover of knowledge, loving all sorts of discourses and ideas until he finally settles on one special type of knowledge.
Ultimately, this lover of knowledge will reach the goal of love, which is amazingly beautiful in its nature. This beauty always exists, not coming into being or ceasing to be, nor increasing or diminishing. It is absolute beauty, not being beautiful only in some respects or at some times or in relation to certain things or in certain places or to certain people. Beauty will not appear in certain bodies or in certain forms of knowledge or anywhere in particular: it will appear in itself and by itself, independent of everything else. All beautiful things share in its character, but these things in no way affect Beauty itself.
By going through these stages, one will ascend from loving particular kinds of beauty to loving Beauty itself, from which all beautiful things derive their nature. Diotima suggests that a life gazing upon and pursuing this Beauty is the best life one can lead. Many of us can give up all luxuries in order to gaze upon and be with someone we love. Imagine, then, she urges, what it would be like to gaze upon Beauty itself, which is so much greater than the beauty of boys, men, clothes, money, and all else that it is the source of the beauty of these lesser things. Such a person would be able also to produce true virtue rather than images of virtue. Those who are obsessed with images of beauty can only produce images of virtue, but those who can see Beauty itself can produce virtue itself, making themselves immortal and loved by the gods.
This is the end of Diotima's speech as transmitted through Socrates, and Socrates concludes that ever since speaking with Diotima he has known that there is no greater partner for human nature than Love. Socrates says that he has finished, though he is not sure if his speech counts as a eulogy of Love, or whatever one might call what he has just described.
>>>212-216
Everyone congratulates Socrates at the conclusion of his speech, when they are suddenly interrupted by loud knocking at the front door. Soon thereafter, Alcibiades bursts in, drunk, supported by a flute-girl, surrounded by a few other revelers, and wearing a thick garland of ivy, violets, and ribbons. Alcibiades asks if he might join the symposium even though he is very drunk, or if he should just do what he has come to do--to wreath the victorious Agathon with his garlands--and go away again. The company urges Alcibiades to stay, and so he stumbles onto the couch next to Agathon, displacing Socrates
When Alcibiades notices Socrates, he cries out, protesting that Socrates has been sharing a couch with Agathon, the most attractive man in the room. Socrates asks for Agathon's protection, pointing out that ever since he began loving Alcibiades, Alcibiades has been so jealous of him that he cannot stand it when Socrates comes near another attractive man.
Alcibiades then unties some of Agathon's garlands, placing them on Socrates, since Socrates always beats everyone in verbal contest, while Agathon has only been victorious once, with his recent tragedy. Next, he takes charge of the revels, electing himself master of ceremonies, and insisting that everyone get drunk. He quickly downs four pints of wine, and insists that Socrates do the same, though he observes that alcohol never has any effect on Socrates.
Eryximachus demands that Alcibiades take part in the symposium and give his own speech in praise of Love. Alcibiades complains that this would be unfair, as he has already drunk far too much. Besides, Socrates would get jealous if he were to praise anyone other than Socrates in Socrates' presence. Thus, with Eryximachus' permission, he undertakes to deliver a eulogy to Socrates.
Alcibiades claims that Socrates is like a satyr, both in appearance and in other ways as well. Marsyas, the flute-playing satyr, could produce bewitching flute-music with the power of his mouth. Socrates, Alcibiades suggests, can also bewitch people with his mouth, though he needs no flute, using words alone. Unlike any other orator, Socrates has made Alcibiades dissatisfied with his way of life, convincing him that in following politics he neglects himself. Further, Socrates is the only person who has ever made Alcibiades experience shame. Whenever Socrates speaks to him, he cannot argue with anything Socrates says. But when Socrates leaves he gets caught up in the admiration of others and ignores Socrates' wisdom so that when next he sees Socrates he is once more ashamed.
>>>216-223
Alcibiades asserts that Socrates pretends to be erotically attracted to younger men and to be completely ignorant, but that these are all covers. In fact, he lives with great moderation, is very wise, and has no interest in bodily concerns. Once Alcibiades became aware of Socrates' great wisdom, he hoped to seduce Socrates with his good looks in order to glean some wisdom from him. But when he finds himself alone with Socrates, Socrates just converses with him as he always does, not making any kinds of advances. On one occasion, he went with Socrates to the gymnasium and they wrestled together, alone, but Socrates still made no advances.
Finally, Alcibiades gave up on waiting for Socrates to make an advance and started actively pursuing him. He invited Socrates to dinner on several occasions, and once they stayed up talking so late that Alcibiades was able to convince Socrates to stay the night.
Alcibiades pauses here to note that he would not go on were he not so drunk. Like someone who has been bitten by a snake, Alcibiades has been bitten by philosophy, but since everyone else here has also been bitten, he feels comfortable sharing his story.
Once Socrates and Alcibiades had rested themselves upon the couches, Alcibiades put it straight to Socrates, telling him that Socrates was the only lover good enough for him and that he would gratify Socrates in any way he wished if Socrates would help to make him a better person. Socrates replied that if things were as Alcibiades had put them, Socrates would be getting the short end of the stick, exchanging deep wisdom for cheap thrills.
Alcibiades joined Socrates under one sheet but by the end of the night, Alcibiades had not managed to arouse Socrates in the least. Alcibiades felt humiliated, but admired Socrates' self-control. He found further evidence of Socrates' admirable qualities when the two served together in a siege against Potidaea. Socrates was better than all the others at putting up with food shortages and with the winter, and when there was a feast, Socrates could drink everyone under the table without even getting tipsy. On one occasion, Socrates spent an entire day and night standing still, thinking about a problem. In battle, Socrates showed great bravery, once saving Alcibiades' life.
Alcibiades concludes his speech by remarking that we cannot liken Socrates to any other person, past or present. At best, we can compare him to a satyr who is god-like on the inside. Alcibiades warns Agathon not to be fooled or seduced by Socrates in the way he has been.
Comments