Symposium

Symposium Questions and Answers

In the Symposium, how is love (Eros) related to the allegory of the cave?

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Aristophanes speech is a myth in need of interpretation? What is he trying to say about human beings and the phenomenon of love or Eros? Explain the role and significance of Self Love in Aristophanes speech?

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According to Diotima in Symposium, what mediates between the mortal and immortal? How does Diotima describe love in terms of good? What does she mean by birth beauty, and what is the connection between birth and immortality?

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In Diotima's speech on love, what's the relationship among love, beauty, and happiness? What's the significance of the Form of Beauty?

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Who has the best speech on love in Symposium? Why?

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In Symposium, what is Socrates’s view of human nature in terms of love? Diotima says, “Now, this desire for happiness, this kind of love—do you think it is common to all human beings and that everyone wants to have good things forever and ever?” Could you elaborate on Socrates’s stance on human nature in terms of love?

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How does Alcibiades's experience of his love for Socrates prove that Sorcates's speech about how love works in Symposium is wrong?

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Explain at least three ways in which Plato demonstrates that he has drawn upon the ideas of Homer, the Pre-Socratics, Sophocles, and Euripides. Pay close attention to the participants in the dialog of the Symposium, the themes of their statements and the progression of their arguments. Base your conclusions on the works of Plato, and the other Greek authors.

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Choose any two of the speeches about love and discuss how the dynamic between the lover and the loved is acted out. One should be Aristophanes.    In ancient Greek society and in the philosophies of Love represented in The Symposium, a distinction is made between the lover and the loved.  In male-female relationships, the lover is typically depicted as the more active, male figure in the relationship, whereas the loved  is female and  passive. While the ideal love relationship is supposed to be reciprocal in the benefits it brings to both parties, in reality many love relationships may be unbalanced or asymmetrical.

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What is the specific object that is desired by erotic longing?

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Who does Alcibiades discuss?

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Identify the educational theory expressed by Plato in the Symposium.

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A symposium is a depicted dialogue between a number of male participants on the theme of Eros or love. In the introduction, what is ”Eros,” and what are the different meanings of this words?

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In the Symposium, how is eros presented as similar to or different from philia?

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In Symposium, does Diotima claim it is nobler to give birth through the body or through the soul? Why? How does human being progress to the vision of "beauty absolute, simple and everlasting"?

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