Symposium Overview

The Symposium

From laws to pots to parties

Solon’s laws: a model of justice, balance

between rich and poor.
Decorated pots: a care for the beauty of

objects around them
The standing Kouroi: the beauty of the

human body. Even the gods share our form.
The Symposium—a dialogue
Background:
Plato (428-348 BCE)
Student of Socrates (died 399 BCE)
Culture of Athens in the 5th-4th century BCE
¡ Skipping ahead to the following era
¡ Age of Pericles
¡ Persian War to Peloponnesian War
¡ Upper class life
Life for the Wealthy in Athens
Private education for young men

Democracy in action
Marriage arrangements
Homosexuality as model of friendship/mentorship—
set duration
Erastes Eromenos
÷ Older, active the boy, passive
Three Forms of Love
Agape-- love of a spouse or family, or affection

for a particular activity [note Christian use]
Eros—sexual love
Philia--an affection that could denote either
brotherhood or generally non-sexual affection
The Symposium as a literary form
As drama– a lived account

As rhetoric– individuals compete with their speeches
As dialectic—the Socratic method of working through
a problem.
PROBLEM: What is love and how it is central to the
human experience?
Symposium as story
The Chinese box character of this dialogue:
Apollodorus tells person X about a previous

exchange with Glaucon that occurred several days
past when he had shared the story from
Aristodemus who attended the party 10 years ago
(but had fallen asleep during it anyway!)
Everyone get that?

Imagery
The Path of story telling

on the road--Journeys, places
gatherings
Some Greek Vocabulary concepts
Skolia—poems at symposiums that zigzag around

Enkomia—formal eulogies of praise
Eros/eros—love, erotic love (God/concept)
Erastes—older pursuing lover
Eromenos—younger, receiving beloved
Paideia—pedagogy, educationèliterary and
cultural accomplishments
Sympotic literature—words around and about the
table
Decoding the Stories I
Characters and order of their speeches:

Phaedrus (1) and Eryximachus (3)
Agathon (5) and Pausanias (2)
Aristophanes (4)
Socrates (6)
Alcibiades (7)
Each speech has two levels: the surface story in
mythic narrative and the internal meaning
Decoding the stories II
As each character offers his speech in honor of love,

we explore the essential nature of love and
relationships, an account of what matters—through
the lens of concrete individuals, each of whom defines
love from the perspective of his own interests.
How might you see “beauty” factoring into the

discussion topic?
The story begins…
Describe the opening scene:

Who is throwing the party and why?
What is Socrates doing?
When the guests all arrive what do they decide to do
(or not do!) and why?
Phaedrus
Love is the oldest of Gods

The power of love to bond people together in
insurmountable ways
We become good, better people, because we want to
be worthy of those we love
His examples of lovers include?
Phaedrus’ pairs
Love is the oldest of gods and inspires us to be better

people so as to live up to the expectations of our lover.
Alcestis and Admetus

Orpheus and Eurydice
Achilles and Patroclus
Love and virtue go together.

Would you rather love or be loved?
Pausanias’ Speech
Two kinds of love: heavenly and earthly

The better kind of love- heavenly love, dedicated to
the improvement of the beloved.
Outlining the proper lover-beloved relationship:
scripting relationships
Do we have scripts for “proper love?”
Interlude
Aristophanes has the hiccups– why?

Eryximachus offers medical advice and offers to go
before him.
Eryximachus’ speech
The doctor Eryximachus offers his view on love

The scientific view of love:
¡ Love as the organizing principle of life: balance and
repletion
¡ Love in medicine, music, seasons, religion
¡ Note how “love” is moving beyond the interpersonal
experience towards a more abstracted notion
¡ Love is in every aspect of human affairs, governing and
balancing
How do scientists describe love?

Aristophanes’ speech
Before we can understand love, we have to

understand humans
Three kinds of humans:
male-male, sons of Helios
female-female, daughters of Mother
Earth
male-female (androgyne), children of
the moon
The Origins of Love
19
https://youtu.be/_zU3U7E1Odc
Aristophanes speech- Zeus’ decision
What does Zeus decide to do to humankind and why?
The result: distraught and unhappy, incomplete beings

The solution?
The consequence: longing for and looking for our

“missing half”
Aristophanes’ conclusion
Aristophanes concludes that Love represents the

completion of a whole. We are only partial beings
without our special partner.
Do you believe in soul mates?

Agathon’s Speech
Agathon is the celebrated poet; the party is in his

house and in his honor.
Love is the youngest of the gods
--the most beautiful in looks and demeanor
--delicate, supple, flowery
--character of moral excellence: just, temperate,
brave and wise
--love makes us poets
Read his culminating summary, 197 d-e
A Kouros
23
Socrates- interlude
Socrates expresses dismay that the speeches are not

about truth but simply glossy showcases
He questions Agathon about his description of love
on a number of points.
What is wrong with Agathon’s claims?
Love is love of something not obtained, a yearning

Love seeks the beautiful and the good, therefore must
not already have those!
Agathon is deflated. Does that mean love must be

ugly and lacking in goodness if it desires it?
Socrates account of Love
Socrates as a student of Diotima:

Between wisdom and ignorance, lies --?
Between beauty and ugliness lies --?
Love as a spirit, neither god nor human. Daimons bind
the universe together…
Part I--The story of Love
Love is the child of Wherewithal (handsome young

man) and Want (needy young woman)
By nature neither mortal nor god
Love is between wanting and having

Those who seek wisdom are like Love, between
knowing and ignorance… the Philosopher
Part II-What does Love do for us?
The universal desire among humans
Our limited concept of “love” is analogous to our
concept of ‘art” We think that “art” means
pictures whereas it can really include any creative
work just as we think “love” refers only to how we
feel about a person
How does Diotima expand “love” beyond the
sexual? ---Love of business, money, sports, etc.
“Love is the desire for permanent possession of the
good..” (206b)
Part III- What is love’s aim and what does it
accomplish?
Love and beauty, desire to create, to be god-like
Love is our yearning for immortality, preservation

bodily/animal urges to pro-create
yearning to learn, to “replenish” what has
disappeared
Evidence for love as yearning for preservation
1. Parents caring for their young; their ambitions for

their children
2. Pursuit of honor, glory, fame– the hero
Potency in physical creation, fame, art, wisdom…

Ascent of Love
Beautiful body- the lover

Beautiful soul, person
Giving birth to virtuous ideas
Appreciation for human beauty
Beauty of laws, cultures, customs
Beauty of the branches of knowledge
Beauty of knowledge itself
Ascent upward leads to…
The Form of beauty itself: eternal, infinite, whole,

independent
The metaphor of a ladder: 211b-212a
What might this search for beauty/love possibly be?

Alcibiades enters
The flirtation with Agathon… and Socrates

His speech in praise of Socrates
¡ How does he upend the tradition of lover/beloved?
¡ What attracts Alcibiades about Socrates?
¡ What stories of Socrates does Alcibiades share?
¡ What image of Socrates do we receive?
The End
What do we learn about Socrates at the very end of

the dialogue?
How does love, beauty, wisdom convene into

a sense of universal human search for Truth?
How does Philosophy ultimately represent
our search for understanding, beauty and
consolation in our lives?
What does this dialogue reveal about the
nature of the Athenians?

Symposium Overview

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Symposium Overview

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Symposium Overview

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Symposium

From laws to pots to parties

Solon’s laws: a model of justice, balance

Decorated pots: a care for the beauty of

The standing Kouroi: the beauty of the

Private education for young men

Agape-- love of a spouse or family, or affection

As drama– a lived account

The Chinese box character of this dialogue:

Apollodorus tells person X about a previous

Everyone get that?

The Path of story telling

Skolia—poems at symposiums that zigzag around

Characters and order of their speeches:

As each character offers his speech in honor of love,

How might you see “beauty” factoring into the

Describe the opening scene:

Love is the oldest of Gods

Love is the oldest of gods and inspires us to be better

Alcestis and Admetus

Love and virtue go together.

Two kinds of love: heavenly and earthly

Aristophanes has the hiccups– why?

The doctor Eryximachus offers his view on love

How do scientists describe love?

Before we can understand love, we have to

What does Zeus decide to do to humankind and why?

The result: distraught and unhappy, incomplete beings

The consequence: longing for and looking for our

Aristophanes concludes that Love represents the

Do you believe in soul mates?

Agathon is the celebrated poet; the party is in his

Socrates expresses dismay that the speeches are not

Love is love of something not obtained, a yearning

Agathon is deflated. Does that mean love must be

Socrates as a student of Diotima:

Love is the child of Wherewithal (handsome young

By nature neither mortal nor god

Love is between wanting and having

Love and beauty, desire to create, to be god-like

Love is our yearning for immortality, preservation

1. Parents caring for their young; their ambitions for

Potency in physical creation, fame, art, wisdom…

Beautiful body- the lover

The Form of beauty itself: eternal, infinite, whole,

The metaphor of a ladder: 211b-212a

What might this search for beauty/love possibly be?

The flirtation with Agathon… and Socrates

What do we learn about Socrates at the very end of

How does love, beauty, wisdom convene into

You might also like