Plato (427 – 347 BC) is one of the most influential philosophers in history. He wrote 34 dialogues and 13 letters, although six other works are attributed to him, but are not considered authentic by experts. Apart from revealing Plato as an exceptional philosopher, his works also show that he was a scientist and a knowledgeable theologian, and due to their literary value, he is also classified among the greatest writers. As for the themes of his works, they cover all aspects of human action. The literary form of dialogue is owed to Plato, and to this day, no one has been able to write more beautiful philosophical dialogues than him.
One of the most important and well-known works of Plato is definitely The Symposium. The ideas about love and beauty, linked to goodness and wisdom, which Plato presents in The Symposium, reveal mankind’s path towards fulfilling oneself as a complete and enlightened being, through the constant need for self-improvement and self-control. The Symposium simultaneously expresses the profound meaning of classical Greek ethics and It introduces us to the fundamental principles of Hellenic aesthetics. As such, it has had a tremendous influence on numerous later thinkers and creators since ancient times, especially those from the Renaissance period.
The multitude of ideas abundant in this Platonic work is difficult to list in just one article, so we will try to provide only the basic guidelines with the purpose of engaging readers in the material that is essential literature in the history of philosophy.
This dialogue is named after the banquet that the young poet Agathon hosted for his friends in 416 BC, the day after his tetralogy first won in a tragic competition. In the prologue, we learn how Glaucon meets Socrates’ friend Apollodorus, who heard the story of this banquet from Aristodemus, another friend of Socrates, so Glaucon asks him to retell it.
According to the story, Aristodemus met Socrates on that occasion, looking well-groomed, which Socrates rarely did. When he asked him where he was going, Socrates invited him to A Agathon hosts a feast. Agathon is accompanied by Phaedrus, a young man whom Socrates greatly loved for his honesty and interest in philosophy, Pausanias, a respected and wealthy citizen and politician, the esteemed physician Eriximachus, the famous playwright Aristophanes, and other guests. After dinner, Eriximachus suggests that they dismiss the musicians and spend the evening in a philosophical conversation, and that each person delivers a speech about Eros, the god of love.
First Speeches
Phaedrus, the first speaker, praises Eros as one of the oldest, most honorable, and most inspiring gods. His speech is based on the hymns of Hesiod, the teachings of Parmenides, and the Orphic mysteries, which state that Eros appears as the third deity during the creation of the world, forming the first triad of gods along with Chaos and Earth. Eros’ inspiring role can be seen in how love fosters feelings of honor, courage, and heroism. An army composed of those who love in this way would be unbeatable. Phaedrus praises those who have died for love, such as Alcestis, Orpheus, Patroclus, and Achilles.
Pausanias wonders which Eros should be celebrated? There are two Aphrodites, goddesses of love – celestial, sublime love, and earthly, lustful love. Likewise, there are also two Eroses, their companions. The older Eros symbolizes true and pure, sublime love, while the younger Eros symbolizes blind infatuation. Ordinary Eros represents worldly love. These are the ones who love women and men, loving the body more than the soul. Their goal is to satisfy desire. Pausanias extols celestial love, which prompts a person to express the best, most humane qualities they carry within. As an example, he cites the friendship between older and younger men. If this relationship is an expression of celestial Eros, it creates strong friendships and enables young people to become moral and wise, which is beneficial for society as a whole. At the same time, he criticizes self-interest and immorality that can arise from such relationships if they are driven by lust, and can lead to ugly and unworthy connections.
Eryximachus’ speech is based on Empedocles’ teachings. Learning about the four elements: earth, fire, air, and water. Within them, there are opposites: cold and hot, dry and moist. Eros’s power, eroticism, is the cosmic force that attracts them to each other and keeps them together. It acts on everything that exists: elemental forces, plants, animals, humans, and gods. Eriksimah has come to this through his medical profession. In the nature of the body, there are two states: healthy and sick. To pay attention to what makes the body healthy is beautiful love, to indulge in what can lead to illness is shameful and should be resisted. Hence, medicine is the science of erotic relationships within the body, in terms of filling and emptying. A good doctor is one who knows how to replace bad love with good in physiological relationships, thus enabling what is within the body to become friends with each other in conflict. The same applies to gymnastics, agriculture, music, astronomy, and all other skills. Every evil arises if someone does not indulge noble Eros. Therefore, in the universe In order to achieve good, it is necessary to act wisely and justly because that is what brings harmony and bliss.
The speeches at the Banquet give the impression that the speakers are competing with each other. In this case, Phaedrus’ speech would be like an introduction after which Pausanias and the physician Eryximachus measure their strength. They are followed by the artists Aristophanes and Agathon, a comedian and a tragedian.
Aristophanes advocates the religion of Eros, claiming that people do not fully understand its power. In order to understand the power of Eros, one needs to get to know human nature and what it has been through since the very beginning. Based on the Orphic teaching of the separation of two parts of the soul, mortal and immortal, and the longing for their reunion, he presents a grotesque myth. In the beginning, people were complete beings, round in shape with four arms and four legs, and two faces turned towards each other. There were three genders of people, not only male and female as today, but also androgynous – male-female gender. Those first people were very strong and defiant and they attacked the gods. They were cut in half longitudinally and shaped into their current form in order to diminish their power. Each half yearned for the other, met with it and clung to it. Since then, love for one another has been implanted in people. Every person is a split symbol (simbolon). Everyone searches for their half, their soulmate, and this longing for wholeness is called love. Eros helps us by guiding us towards what is akin to us. Humans should do what is appropriate so that the gods do not split us again. If we befriend the gods, we will be reunited with our complement and return to our original nature. If we cannot do that, then we should find someone who is naturally close to us.
Agathon, the fifth speaker, points out at the beginning that the previous orators did not praise Eros, but called people fortunate because of the gifts this god gives them. It is necessary first to say what kind of god he is, and only then to highlight his gifts. Agathon’s speech is a poetic vision. Enthusiastic, with a lot of is made up of beautiful metaphors and embellishments, expressing a glorious praise to Eros. All the gods are blessed, but Eros is the most blessed because he is the most beautiful and the best. He is the most beautiful because he is the youngest, he does not like old age and he runs away from it. He is always with the young and he himself is eternally young. Because of his tenderness, he does not walk on hard ground but on hearts. He resides in tender hearts, while he flees from the hard ones. He is the best because he is the most just, the most prudent, the bravest, and the wisest. Eros gives beauty to everyone, fills us with trust, brings gentleness, is generous, merciful, and caring for the good.
In the end, everyone cheers and praises him.
Socrates’ speech
Before we hear what Socrates has to say, it is necessary to reflect on the previous speeches to point out something that is often overlooked when interpreting this work. It is about the fact that none of them represents Plato’s view of Eros. From misunderstanding this, there arise increasingly common comments that Plato justified homosexual relationships, as well as references to the so-called “platonic love,” which Mutual attraction without sensuality is usually called love. In fact, through these speeches, Plato presents certain opinions that prevailed about love in Athenian society, with a subtle irony visible through the character traits and performances of the speakers. Phaedrus is still young, and his speech is fervent, but youthful and with a noticeable lack of experience. Pausanias talks about the purity of love, but like an experienced politician, he presents a well-known story about the prevailing moral values in Athens at that time. Accordingly, his speech lacks depth and is often ambiguous, while his own behavior reveals his infatuation with Agathon. Eryximachus exaggerates in paying attention to medical skill, which he is in love with and literally applies to everything, which leads Aristophanes to mock him with his hiccups. Aristophanes’ speech is a bizarre and grotesque comedy, which, like any good comedy, is based on grains of truth, although it does not make it real. And Agathon’s speech, although its structure is Like a magnificent exuberant fountain full of virtuoso poetic expressions and quotes, it is actually illogical, self-contradictory, senseless, and empty.
Of course, in each of these speeches, there is something that could be and is true, but none of the speakers provide reasoned evidence for it. Plato wants more than that, so Socrates emphasizes that earlier speakers only praised Eros, regardless of truth or falsehood, while he intends to speak only the truth.
By establishing that Eros cannot be both beautiful and good because he longs for it, Socrates returns the whole story about Eros’s qualities to the beginning.
Instead of giving his own speech, he then retells the dialogue with Diotima, a priestess from Mantinea in Arcadia, who supposedly taught him about love matters.
Socrates tells how Diotima claimed that Eros is a beautiful and good god, but she refuted him. The dialogue went like this:
– So, is Eros ugly and evil then?
– My dear, does what is not beautiful have to be evil?
Ugly? Or what is not wise is foolish? Haven’t you noticed that there is something in between wisdom and ignorance?
– What is that?
– Opinion, because if someone thinks correctly, but cannot provide reasons for it, it is neither knowledge nor ignorance. The same goes for Eros. He is in between beauty and ugliness.
– Still, everyone agrees that Eros is a great god.
– Who says that? Are there those who say that Eros is not a god?
– Who are they?
– You and me.
– How come?
– Easily, didn’t you say that gods are happy and beautiful? And you admitted that Eros yearns for those qualities due to a lack of goodness and beauty. So how could he be a god then?
– What is Eros, then?
– The middle ground between mortal and immortal.
– What power does he have?
– To explain and bring to the gods what comes from humans, and to humans what comes from the gods. He fills the void between humans and gods, so through him, the cosmos is connected.
– Who are his father and mother?
Then Diotima recounts the myth of the feast of the gods on the occasion of the birth of Aphrodite. “Child. At that feast, Eros was conceived by Pora, the god of travel and abundance, son of Metis (goddess of memory) and Penia, goddess of need and poverty. Therefore, Eros is the son of Travel and Need, Abundance and Poverty, and since he was conceived at Aphrodite’s feast, he became her companion. Being the union of these extremes, he has the following fate: always poor, without shoes, without a home, sleeping on bare ground, at doorsteps and in pathways, and always a friend of need. On the other hand, he presides over those who are beautiful and good, he is brave, bold, an experienced hunter, clever, eager for understanding, a friend of wisdom. He blossoms and dies on the same day, but also comes back to life. Whatever he gains, he always loses, never poor, never rich.
Jean-Baptiste Regnault (1754 – 1829): Socrates taking Alcibiades away from the embrace of “earthly” Aphrodite.
Diotima further explains that there is no love for a half or a whole, as Aristophanes claims in the parody of the anthropogenetic myth, if they are not some good. Because people are willing to cut off their own leg if it brings them some good.” It gives hope in something good.
There are different forms of love. Some love acquiring wealth, others winning in gymnastics, others being healthy, others creating something, and all these forms of love ultimately are love for goodness and happiness. People only love what is good and it should be forever theirs, which means that love also strives for immortality.
Our nature wants to give birth, and it does not want to give birth in something ugly and unattractive, but in beauty. Eros is not interested in possessing beauty, but in creating in beauty. All people want to give birth because it is the only way for what is mortal to participate in the immortal. We see this desire in animals as well. Just like humans, their mortal nature strives for as long as possible participation in immortality, and the best way to do that is by leaving offspring. However, humans can give birth physically and spiritually. There are many who, for these reasons, lean towards creating famous and immortal works. The parents of such children are poets, artists, philosophers, legislators, statesmen.
So o According to Diotima, everyone can independently reach different levels of understanding of love, but they are merely preparations for Eros’ mysteries. Eros is the personification of the desire for creation that leads humans on the path of knowledge. This path begins in the realm of the senses and gradually ascends until it reaches the realm of ideas.
The first level is the love of beautiful bodies. It is necessary to realize that bodies are not beautiful in themselves, but rather participate more or less in beauty through symmetry and proportion, and that beauty is immaterial.
The second level is the love of the beauty of the soul. It is above physical beauty because if someone possesses a beautiful soul, it will overshadow physical imperfections. It is important to understand that moral values and actions are what make the soul beautiful, and that it is necessary to develop virtues. This leads to seeing beauty in actions and duties, and it is necessary to understand that physical beauty is insignificant in comparison to them.
The third level is the love of wisdom. It originates from the love of philosophy and intellectual pursuits. This level goes beyond the previous ones as it focuses on the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. It is a higher form of love and leads to a deeper connection with the divine. Through individual knowledge, poetry, art, science, theology, etc., one should realize that each of them contains the same essence, that they are only different expressions of eternal and unchanging ideas. Whoever succeeds in discerning this, gradually learning to recognize and express the beauty of ideas, will eventually glimpse something that is inherently wonderfully beautiful: “something that is, firstly, eternal and neither comes into being nor perishes, neither multiplies nor disappears; furthermore, something that is not beautiful on one side and ugly on the other, not beautiful today and not tomorrow, not beautiful relative to this and ugly relative to that, not beautiful here and ugly there, as if it were beautiful only for some and ugly for others. There is something else: this beauty will not appear as a face, or hands, or anything else belonging to the body; nor as speech, or knowledge; nor as something contained in anything else, be it in a living being, or in the earth, or in the sky, or in anything else, but as something that is in itself and with itself unique and eternal.
Human beings, So, it is possible and necessary to elevate oneself to the understanding of ideas, as it is the path of spiritual development. Once one accomplishes this, they should feel called to align their life and work with the light of ideas, thus creating beauty and moral goodness in the world. This path leads from sensual and sensory love to true philosophical love, which represents the highest degree of morality, knowledge, and creativity.
Describing Eros in this way, as the force that leads a person not only towards the pinnacle of spiritual knowledge but also towards the improvement of the world and society as a whole, is the reason why every person should respect Eros and nurture the art of love.
Upon finishing his speech, Sokrat is greeted at the door by a joyful and tipsy group led by Alkibiad, a well-known Athenian public figure, military leader, statesman, and diplomat. Quite tipsy and adorned with wreaths, he comes to congratulate Agathon and crowns him with wreaths from his own head. When he notices Socrates, he crowns him as well. . The society asks Alcibiades to give a speech too, but he doesn’t want to compete with others while drunk, and then says that he will praise no one else but Socrates. So Alcibiades appears as the seventh speaker, and with his appearance and speech about Socrates’ qualities, he reveals that the qualities of Eros, which Diotima spoke about, can be most beautifully seen through Socrates’ example. He tells stories about Socrates’ heroic exploits, his character traits, his self-control in all situations, both everyday and extraordinary. From everything he presents, it is clear that Socrates is a perfect example of active philosophical love in constant seeking for both the world and himself to become better. This speech is a practical confirmation of the previous exposition.
Shortly after Alcibiades finished, another tipsy group joins the feast and a commotion starts. Some guests leave, while others begin to talk in smaller groups and drink wine. Over time, most of the remaining guests fall asleep. Aristodemus falls asleep too, and when he wakes up, he sees that only Oh Agathon, Aristophanes and Socrates are discussing the art of drama over drinks. Finally, Agathon and Aristodemus fall asleep. At dawn, Socrates, still fresh and energetic, goes as usual to Lycée for a morning bath to spend the rest of the day as usual, only to return home to sleep in the evening.
Conclusion:
Plato’s Symposium emanates the strength of its author’s personality, who demonstrates himself to be a master of writing, brilliantly combining the qualities of a philosopher, logician, humanist, mystagogue, playwright, portraitist, humorist, but primarily an elegant Hellenic aristocrat, not only by birth, but by his own nature. On the other hand, the ideas he presents and the light of knowledge he brings into previously unexplored paths are truly inspiring. His Eros is a symbol of creative power rooted in the most powerful human emotion, love, and the Promethean need for beauty and spiritual heights. This power guides us through the stages of creation, driven by our constant desire to create. He is familiar with and purification.
As a true mystagogue, Plato gradually reveals to us the secrets of love for wisdom and the path that the soul necessarily undergoes on the path to its own fulfillment. Traveling from poverty to abundance and from abundance to poverty, from pleasure to dissatisfaction and vice versa, the soul gradually breaks through to the absolute. On this journey, beauty serves as the Ariadne’s thread that leads it through the labyrinth of bodily phenomena towards the realm of ideas, archetypes. After many efforts, it leaves behind all tantalizing and Sisyphean traps of sensory deceptions and the emptiness of never fully satisfied desires. It breaks through the circle of relative knowledge in which scientific gnoseologies and disciplines remain closed, and finally reaches the level of absolute being.
For Plato, philosophy is both science and art because it cannot be learned, but must be experienced. Nothing is gained simply by consuming the fruits of others’ knowledge. This is not mere curiosity but wisdom that ripens through the power of love. Avi, as a result of continuous self-improvement efforts.