Guidelines

What did Plato say about friends?

What did Plato say about friends?

They comprehend each other! For Plato, another fundamental virtue underlying friendship was the virtue of temper and moderation. For him, character (virtue) is the source and basis of personal friendship.

What does Diotima tell us about Love?

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. Because he was conceived on Aphrodite’s birthday, Love has become her follower, and has become in particular a lover of beauty.

What does Socrates say about Love in the symposium?

According to Diotima, Socrates says, Love (the supposed deity) is neither mortal nor immortal, neither beautiful nor ugly. Love is rugged and resourceful but also a spendthrift. In his restless, ambitious, seeking quality, Diotima adds, Love has more in common with the unsatisfied lover than with the beautiful beloved.

What are the two forms of Love Diotima discuss?

He explains that love can be broken down into two types, that of Common and Heavenly love.

Is Diotima at the symposium?

Since there is no evidence for ‘Diotima’ outside Plato’s Symposium, it has been doubted whether she was a real historical personage rather than a fictional creation.

What does Diotima say about Beauty?

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.

What did Plato mean by platonic love?

Platonic love (often lowercased as platonic love) is a type of love that is not sexual. Platonic love, as devised by Plato, concerns rising through levels of closeness to wisdom and true beauty, from carnal attraction to individual bodies to attraction to souls, and eventually, union with the truth.

Who was Diotima in Socrates speech at the symposium?

Diotima is a fictitious prophetess whom Socrates invents in his speech at the symposium. He portrays her as having initiated him into the higher mysteries of Eros through a dialectical discussion.

Who is the Diotima of Mantinea in the symposium?

The The Symposium quotes below are all either spoken by Diotima of Mantinea or refer to Diotima of Mantinea. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: ).

What is the significance of Plato’s Symposium?

Plato’s Symposium and Diotima’s Ladder of Love. Plato’s dialogue the Symposium is one of the key texts of the Platonic tradition: it relates a series of speeches made in praise of Eros at a party thrown in celebration of Agatho’s victory in the contest of Dramas in the Festival of Dionysus.

What did Diotima say about the ascent to beauty?

The ascent via Beauty is described in the famous speech of Diotima in the Symposium, sometimes known as the Ladder of Love. This is Diotima’s second speech below, beginning with section 210.