What Does Agathon Say About Love In Symposium?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Aristophanes and Agathon say that

love is young, wise, and beautiful inspiring people to search for their other half

.

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How does Agathon define love?

Agathon suggests that

Love is the happiest of the gods because he is most beautiful and best

. He is beautiful because, contrary to Phaedrus

What does Pausanias say about Love?

Pausanias argues that

loving is in itself neither a good nor a bad activity

. If it is done properly, it is good, and if not, it is bad. Common Love, according to Pausanias, is bad because its attraction is indiscriminating, directed toward bodies rather than toward minds.

What did Socrates say about Love?

Socrates states that, “

Love is the conciousness of a need for a good not yet acquired or possessed.”

In other words we want what we do not have, and at times cannot have. Love for Socrates is a superficial occurrence and only based on the things in life that seem to be pleasing to the eye.

What did Agathon do?

Agathon, (born c. 445 bc—died c. 400 bc, Macedonia),

Athenian tragic poet

whose first victory at the festival of the Great Dionysia, in which plays were presented and judged, was gained in 416 bc.

Why does Socrates question Agathon?

Socrates now begins to

question the truth of Agathon’s speech

. This is done in order to prepare the way for his own discourse on Love. The questioning follows the line of a formal refutation and can be expressed succinctly.

What are the two kinds of love in Pausanias speech?

Pausanias brings up an excellent way to think about Love. He explains that love can be broken down into two types, that of

Common and Heavenly love

. The common love is that when a man and a woman join merely to satisfy their sexual desires.

Why does Pausanias think that love is valuable to a city and its citizens?

According to Pausanias, “This [love]…is a source of great value to the city and to individuals, because

it forces the lover to pay attention to his own virtue and the boyfriend to do the same

.

How does Aristophanes define love Eros in his speech in Plato’s Symposium?

Love is the desire we have to find our other half, in order to become whole. Agathon follows Aristophanes, and his speech sees

Eros as youthful, beautiful, and wise; and as the source of all human virtues

. Before Socrates gives his speech he asks some questions of Agathon regarding the nature of love.

How does philosophy define love?

Love in a general sense, can be defined as

an expansion of the heart toward another human being

. …

How does Aristotle define love?

In the first chapter, I explore Aristotle’s moral psychology of love in general. To love something in itself, as opposed to loving it because it pleases you or is useful to you, is

to love it on the basis of one’s rational recognition that it is kalon

(“fine” or morally “beautiful”) and good in itself.

What is at the top of the ladder of Love?

The ladder is a metaphor

for the ascent

a lover might make from purely physical attraction to something beautiful, as a beautiful body, the lowest rung, to actual contemplation of the Form of Beauty itself. … Next, the lover comes to realize that spiritual and moral beauty matters much more than physical beauty.

Does Socrates believe in love?

Diotima points out that, in spite of himself,

Socrates has denied that Love is a god altogether

. They have concluded that Love is not good and beautiful because he is in need of good and beautiful things. … Love is neither mortal nor immortal, but is a spirit, which falls somewhere between being a god and being human.

What does Eryximachus say about Love?

Eryximachus concludes that

Love is ever-present and all-powerful in our lives

, as it is the cause of all self-control, happiness, and justice, and it produces good actions.

Why does Alcibiades Love Socrates?

Alcibiades, as the younger, handsome man, would be expected to be the loved one of Socrates, and Socrates would be expected

to pursue him in order to gain sexual gratification

. Alcibiades finds none of his advances working, and ends up switching roles, where he becomes the lover in hot pursuit of Socrates.

How does Agathon end his speech?


Agathon surrenders, saying that he cannot argue against Socrates

. Socrates replies that it is easy to argue against Socrates, but that Agathon cannot argue with the truth.

What is the object of Love according to Socrates Diotima?

Socrates and Diotima agree that love is

the desire to have the good forever

.

Who is Pausanias symposium?

b. In 416, Pausanias was

a guest at the celebration

Plato’s Symposium was supposed to recount. At the time of Agathon’s victory, Pausanias was in his fifties, as were Socrates and Acumenus. He gives a speech in praise of Eros that is partly critical with regard to Athenian morals concerning homosexuality.

Who did Socrates learn about Love from?


Diotima/Aspasia

Socrates was famous for saying: “The only thing I know is that I don’t know.” But Plato, in Symposium (199b), reports him as saying that he learned “the truth about love” from a clever woman. That woman is given the name “Diotima” – and in Symposium Socrates expounds her doctrine.

Who is Pausanias Plato?

Pausanias (/pɔːˈseɪniəs/; Greek: Παυσανίας; fl. c. 420 BC) was

an ancient Athenian of the deme Kerameis

, who was the lover of the poet Agathon. … Pausanias appears briefly in two other Socratic dialogues, Plato’s Protagoras and Xenophon’s Symposium.

What according to Phaedrus is the greatest good for a lover?

What, according to Phaedrus, is the greatest good for a lover?

they would do nothing shameful, but would always do what was honorable in each others’ eyes.

Which speaker in the symposium argues that there are two distinct kinds of love common love and heavenly love?

Two Types of Love in Plato’s Symposium


Pausanias

brings up an excellent way to think about Love. He explains that love can be broken down into two types, that of Common and Heavenly love.

What did Socrates learn from Diotima?

Diotima gives Socrates

a genealogy of Love (Eros)

, stating that he is the son of “resource (poros) and poverty (penia)”. In her view, love drives the individual to seek beauty, first earthly beauty, or beautiful bodies.

What is Love to Aristophanes?

Aristophanes says his speech explains “the source of our desire to love each other.” He says, “

Love is born into every human being

; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature.

What caused the origin of love according to Aristophanes?

“The Origin of Love” is based on a speech by Aristophanes in Plato’s Symposium. The speech described three different sexes: men attached to men, women attached to women, and men attached to women.

They were split in two by the Gods, leaving them with a constant desire to seek their other half

.

What does Aristophanes story explain?

Aristophanes’ speech comes in the form of a myth. Long ago, he explains,

there were three genders: male, female, and androgynous, and each person was twice what they are now

. That is, they had four hands, four legs, two heads, two sets of genitals, and so on.

Why is philosophy the love of wisdom?

The word “philosophy” literally means the “love” (philo in Greek) of “wisdom” (sophia). So, a philosopher is somebody who loves wisdom. … Instead,

he was merely saying that he was somebody who valued or cherished wisdom

. Later, the philosopher Plato, who lived in the 5th century BCE, explored these ideas in more depth.

What is the object of love ie what does love aim at according to Socrates and Diotima How do they argue for this position do you agree with them?

Diotima argues that love occurs

when a human being is pregnant and desires to bear beautiful things that are not only immortal, but also wise and virtuous

(Rouse 104). It implies that love is assurance of immortality and happy live through procreation of body and societal values.

Who did Aristotle love?

According to Maths History, Pythias was around the age of 18 when they married, while Aristotle was around his 40s. Their marriage lasted around a decade until the death of Pythias. Aristotle never remarried but had a relationship with someone named

Herpyllis

.

What is the deepest meaning of love?


Love

means to be deeply committed and connected to someone or something. The basic meaning of love is to feel more than liking towards someone. It is a bond that two people share.

What does Nietzsche say about love?

Nietzsche believed that

romantic love was fleeting

, and the highest form of human bond was friendship. So if you marry someone just for their looks, what happens when they get old, grey and wrinkly.

What philosophers say about love?

  • “There is always some madness in love. …
  • “At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.” …
  • “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”

What is love an essay?

What is Love? Love is

a set of emotions, behaviors, and beliefs with strong feelings of affection

. So, for example, a person might say he or she loves his or her dog, loves freedom, or loves God. The concept of love may become an unimaginable thing and also it may happen to each person in a particular way.

What does Plato say about the highest form of love?

In the Symposium, Plato presents

the love of wisdom

as the highest form of love and philosophy as a refinement of our sexual urges that leads us to desire wisdom over sex.

What is Socrates basic argument about love in his second speech in the Phaedrus?

Socrates’ second speech, in which he “recants” his previous speech, above all, its thesis, and

argues a point closer to his own convictions, namely, that eros is a good form of madness

. Thus the authentic lover (erastes) is to be preferred to all others.

What does Plato say about love in Phaedrus?

Plato’s Phaedrus proposes a distinction between two kinds of love:

the erotic passion that leads to the pursuit of physical pleasure

, and the philosophical pursuit of truth through recollection–anamnesis–of the perfect Forms.

Leah Jackson
Author
Leah Jackson
Leah is a relationship coach with over 10 years of experience working with couples and individuals to improve their relationships. She holds a degree in psychology and has trained with leading relationship experts such as John Gottman and Esther Perel. Leah is passionate about helping people build strong, healthy relationships and providing practical advice to overcome common relationship challenges.