Platos Symposium

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Plato's Symposium

Plato’s Symposium provides us with many different views and theories about love. This drunken discussion of Eros presents ideas which have not lost their relevance in the millennia since. Many things have changed and there have been a lot of different views on almost every subject known to man, but the thoughts voiced in the Symposium still hold truth today. However being what it was, and that is many different peoples thoughts on the subjectof Eros, there is a wide variety of theories to choose from. Which of these speculations strikes a chord of truth in one’s soul?
Diotima speaks through Socrates (who is speaking through Plato) when she gives her version of where love came from. She says that Love is the child of Resource and Poverty, conceived on the day that Aphrodite was born. Poverty had come to the feast to beg and found Resource drunk and passed out. Poverty saw an opportunity to gain more resources, so she slept with him and became pregnant with Love. Love is a follower of Aphrodite because He was conceived at the party following her birth, and because “He is naturally a lover of beauty and Aphrodite is beautiful”(Gill, 203c)
Because of who His mother is Love is always poor and homeless. He is quite tough from sleeping on the ground or in doorways and from wearing no shoes. Because of who His mother is, He is always in need, but because of who His father is He is constantly scheming to get good and beautiful things. He’s clever, and skilled in hunting, magic and acquiring knowledge. Neither immortal nor mortal, Love can spring to life in a day and then die before that day is over. He can come back to life again like his father Resource, but cannot hold onto the resources he has.
Being between mortality and immortality, Diotima calls Love “a great spirit”(Gill,202e). These great spirits are sort of go-betweens for the Gods and Humanity. They convey prayers and sacrifices from us to the Gods, and commands and gifts from the Gods to us. Because of them the universe is all interconnected and whole. The Gods never communicate directly to Humans, but always use these spirits to convey their commands. These are what priests, prophets and oracles speak to.
Love is also between wisdom and ignorance, since neither the gods nor the ignorant love wisdom. The Gods already have it so the do not desire it, therefore love has no part in it. The ignorant don’t love wisdom or want it, because they are satisfied with themselves. Since they do n...

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