Plato’s Symposium: summary of the dialogue between Socrates and a group of friends and disciples who discuss love.
In the Symposium, one of Plato ‘s dialogues , the philosopher deals with the theme of love (Eros). Symposium literally means ” banquet ” and in one of these, organized by Agathon, the theme of love is discussed .
In fact, it was common practice among the Greeks to choose a theme on which each guest had to give his or her opinion, making it a small monologue. The theme was always chosen by the host.
In addition to Phaedrus, this Symposium was attended by Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Agathon (after him there is a small speech by Alcibiades, a former student of Socrates) and finally Socrates , Plato ‘s much praised teacher .
Plato ‘s Symposium is a philosophical dialogue in which Socrates, along with a group of friends and Athenian intellectuals, participates in a banquet dedicated to the discussion of love. Each guest presents his or her own conception of Eros, the god of love, exploring the theme from different perspectives, from physicality and desire to spirituality and beauty.
The guests’ speeches
The first to speak and choose the theme is Phaedrus : according to him Eros is a very ancient god (like Gaia, Uranus and Cronus) and is included in the creation myths; he is very important because he proportioned and harmonized the world (he embellished it).
The second is Pausanias : he distinguishes a good Eros, that of Aphrodite-Urania (measured, without excesses or defects) and a bad Eros, venereal, passionate and excessive.
For the doctor Eryximachus , the third, Eros is a feeling (compared to a drug) that cures the most restless and troubled souls, but can make them mad: it must therefore be used in the right dosage.
The playwright Aristophanes is the fourth to speak and tells the myth of the androgyne.
Before men there were other beings, the androgynous monsters (two humans attached to each other, through the chest), which could be composed of two men, two women or a man and a woman.
They were very fast and powerful so they challenged the gods; Zeus however did not agree, he divided them in two (the navel is the sign of this division) and said if they did not stop he would divide them further.
The conclusion is the following: love is nothing but the search for the other half, the nostalgia for the lost unity. The tragedian Agathon is the fifth to speak and makes a serious speech that however does not have much effect on those present.
He states that: love can only have good as its object and the one who loves must necessarily be very beautiful; good and beautiful are identical and the one who is beautiful loves the good: a typical conception of the Greek world, where the person is more beautiful and more virtuous than the physically ugly one, the external aspect “shows” the internal one.
At this point Alcibiades bursts into the room and, drunk, declares his hatred for the master: he declares that he loved him; Socrates had had ambiguous attitudes, he had deceived him but had not given in.
He is the only one who does not make a speech on eros. The last and proper Socrates , who, after having gained the sympathy of his guests, reports what Diotima, priestess of Mantinea, had told him: love is a relationship, a rapport, and as such it requires the participation of a lover (A) and a beloved (B).
Love is above all in the beloved who is not beautiful, because the lover lacks something (the beloved). Therefore for Socrates love is the continuous search in the other for what one does not have.
Symposium Plato: analysis
At first, the lover loves the body, soul and ideas of the beloved, so love is the intellectual ascent of the beauty of a body (also called “ Ladder of Eros ”), also according to Plato.
- Love of the (beautiful) body
- Love of the soul (beautiful)
- Love of knowledge (beautiful)
- Love of the idea of beauty (of beauty in itself)
Another topic contained in the Symposium is the myth of the origin of Eros , according to which this god was born on a festive day (Aphrodite’s birthday) from Poros and Penia (two little-known gods).
Poros gave him intelligence and sagacity, while Penia gave him ugliness, so Eros is always looking for beauty. So to summarize the guests’ speeches:
- Phaedrus : mythological subject (a very ancient god),
- Pausanias : Civic political-ethical (good and bad eros),
- Eryximachus : scientific (drug),
- Aristophanes : mythological (the myth of the androgynous, love=desire),
- Socrates : relationship between lover and beloved (continuous research).
