Symposium
A Greek discussion or debate
However, its actually quite casual
….and fun
This is how ancient Greeks liked to party
Symposium
A Greek discussion or debate
However, its actually quite casual
….and fun
This is how ancient Greeks liked to party
….and they did a lot of drinking
Aristophanes
He was an ancient ‘comedian’
He described there being three sexes:
male, female, and an androgenous
combination of the two.
Aristophanes
He was an ancient ‘comedian’
He described there being three sexes:
male, female, and an androgenous
combination of the two.
He said Zeus split up the androgenous
sex with a bolt of lightning.
Aristophanes
So Aristophanes describes love as the
desire for a person to find their other
half
To become ‘whole’.
PausaniasLove is:
Not singular but dual
• Common love – when you have
common interests
• Heavenly love – felt by boys during
maturation looking for life
partnership
PausaniasLove is:
Heavenly love can be BAD (if it leads
to sexual desire)
But, appropriate love is when one
person educates another and makes
them wise and good.
PausaniasLove is:
Heavenly love can be BAD (if it leads
to sexual desire)
But, appropriate love is when one
person educates another and makes
them wise and good (which may mean
trying really hard)
Eryximachus(He’s a doctor so his ‘way of knowing’
is through anything to do with
medicine)
He agrees with Pausanias that love can
be good or bad.
Eryximachus(He’s a doctor so his ‘way of knowing’
is through anything to do with
medicine)
He agrees with Pausanias that love can
be good or bad.
Like medicine, he believes love is
about enhancing the good and
depriving the bad.
EryximachusCommon love is good but we must not
indulge in it too much in case we get
sick.
Therefore, love is good in moderation.
EryximachusCommon love is good but we must not
indulge in it too much in case we get
sick.
Therefore, love is good in moderation.
Love is the cause of all self-control,
happiness and justice.
Agathon
He comments that all that has been
talked about so far is what humans can
gain from love (a very shallow and
selfish way to look at it).
Agathon
He comments that all that has been
talked about so far is what humans can
gain from love (a very shallow and
selfish way to look at it).
So he suggests that they talk about
Love as a God.
Agathon
Love is young and rules over the other
Gods, and therefore is peaceful.
Love is: Sensitive, never forceful,
Agathon
Love is young and rules over the other
Gods, and therefore is peaceful.
Love is: Sensitive, never forceful,
brave,
Agathon
Love is young and rules over the other
Gods, and therefore is peaceful.
Love is: Sensitive, never forceful,
brave,
He says Love is always moderate
because he controls pleasures and
desires.
Agathon
He also says no other God can master
their respective expertise without
Love.
Love is responsible for: beauty,
excellence, wisdom, goodness, etc etc
Agathon
Agathon is careless and vague about
his description, yet everyone applauds
and comments on how well spoken
and brilliant he is.
Socrates
In true Socrates style, he is very
humbles and suggests he cannot add
anything of worth given that they all
spoke so well.
Socrates
In true Socrates style, he is very humbles
and suggests he cannot add anything of
worth given that they all spoke so well.
So he decides to tell a story of when he
met a woman called Diatoma (an oracle).
Socrates
He quickly points of that while the
previous speeches were well spoken,
they might only impress the ignorant.
Socrates
He quickly points of that while the
previous speeches were well spoken,
they might only impress the ignorant.
I.e. None of them have come close to
describing the TRUTH
Socrates
He then gets Agathon to agree that
Love must desire that which it has a
love of.
He then points out that you can only
desire something you don’t have in
their possession.
Socrates
He then gets Agathon to agree that
Love must desire that which it has a
love of.
He then points out that you can only
desire something you don’t have in
their possession.
Socrates
He goes back to Agathon’s argument
in which he said Love is ‘beautiful’ and
‘good’.
Which therefore means Love cannot be
beautiful or good, since it desires it.
Socrates
He goes back to Agathon’s argument
in which he said Love is ‘beautiful’ and
‘good’.
Which therefore means Love cannot be
beautiful or good, since it desires it.
Agathon agrees he was wrong.
Symposium
A major theme of Symposium is that
you can only know the TRUTH of
something if you can truly define it.
Symposium
A major theme is also that when you
love something, you can love the
knowledge of it, i.e. in this case you
don’t have to love a specific beautiful
object, but you can go beyond that
and learn to love the idea of beauty.
Symposium
Another idea about Symposium is that
knowledge is like love, and Socrates’
definition of love describes his own
relationship with knowledge.
Symposium
Another idea about Symposium is that
knowledge is like love, and Socrates’
definition of love describes his own
relationship with knowledge. It is
something that you desire because
don’t have it.
Symposium
Another idea about Symposium is that
knowledge is like love, and Socrates’
definition of love describes his own
relationship with knowledge. It is
something that you desire because
don’t have it.
Symposium
This means:
If you think you have it, you really
don’t.
The pursuit of knowledge is a life long
pursuit.