Plato s Symposium A Glimpse Into Antiquity Of Some...

Plato’s Symposium is a glimpse into antiquity of some philosophical conversations on love. The focus here is on two different perspectives between Aristophanes and Socrates. Aristophanes gives us his view on love by telling a mythical account on how human nature came to be. There were once three types of beings, male-male, female-female and male-female, which the later would be known as androgynous. They were each round with four arms, four legs, and two faces on opposite sides of their being and each pair had associated genitals. They could do anything they chose, walking or rolling. The gods thought that they were a bit too powerful but didn’t want to kill them because then the gods wouldn’t get their dutiful sacrifices. So Zeus said†¦show more content†¦That the seeker of knowledge is the one who gains wisdom opposed to the one who says they know. It is not the seeking of an object but of an ideal. In this way love cannot be taken away it always abides. Diotima’s ladder of love leads us from the body, to the mind, to the abstract, to the Form of beauty itself. It is in this we see the essence of beauty itself. And by purs ing the essence of beauty it will produce true virtue rather than images of virtue and it is here that love resides. There is a great contrast between what Aristophanes tells us regarding love and what Socrates tells us. Aristophanes definition of love is a physical connection that is looking to be made whole once again. Trying to heal a wound that can only be healed when we reunite with our other half. And if we never find this person or they reject us love does not exist. It is only a shadow of what it could have been. Left with the desire for love that can never be obtained. This kind of love is not love at all; it is suffering and bondage. Socrates tells us love is not a physical obtainment that can come and go as all material things do but an intangible aspiration. Leaving us hurt or betrayed. Socrates ideal of love is the in-between that resides in beauty, wisdom and happiness, born of plenty and poverty. Given to the idea that it is better not to obtain something but to pursue it. The idea that self-sufficiency is freedom from the bonds of dependency, that if