What does Socrates speak to Diotima about?

What does Socrates speak to Diotima about?

Having been convinced that Love is not beautiful or good, Socrates asks Diotima if that means Love is ugly and bad. Diotima argues that not everything must be either one thing or its opposite. For instance, having unjustified true opinions is neither wisdom nor ignorance.

Why does Socrates use Diotima?

The character of Socrates may be used by Plato as the character of Diotima is used by Socrates: as a way of showing that his discourse is addressed to an audience and that the expression of his knowledge is relative to the enunciative situation.

What function and purpose of eros is related in Socrates conversation with 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. Then as a lover grows in wisdom, the beauty that is sought is spiritual, or beautiful souls.

What is soul according to Diotima?

For Diotima, this dynamic, changing quality of the soul leads her to a very different conclusion than Plato’s: Unlike the gods, the human soul is not immortal, though we fervently want it to be. And it is this doomed passion for immortality that inspires the “prizing” of our children.

What does Diotima say about beauty?

Diotima suggests that a life gazing upon and pursuing this Beauty is the best life one can lead.

What does Diotima assert as the ultimate goal of love?

Diotima asserts that human beings always desire to have beautiful and pleasurable things, and this constitutes love (Rouse 101). Human beings are willing to sacrifice themselves to obtain their desires, since love is always wanting and pursing nifty things.

What is our ultimate desire according to Diotima?

Diotima has Socrates agree that everyone always wants good things and happiness to be theirs forever. In that case, everyone would be a lover, but we only call certain people lovers.

Why does Alcibiades love Socrates?

Once Socrates and Alcibiades had rested themselves upon the couches, Alcibiades put it straight to Socrates, telling him that Socrates was the only lover good enough for him and that he would gratify Socrates in any way he wished if Socrates would help to make him a better person.

What is the ultimate aim of love according to Diotima?

Therefore, Socrates presumed that love is a god of beautiful and marvelous things only. However, Diotima disputed this view because gods own both beautiful and ugly things. According to Rouse, Diotima views love as one of the spirits that mediate between human beings and gods, and mortal and immortal things (98).

What is the ladder of love in Diotima’s speech?

Socrates summarized the speeches of five of the guests and then recounted the teachings of a priestess, Diotima. 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.

What do we learn from Alcibiades speech?

In battle, Socrates showed great bravery, once saving Alcibiades’ life. Alcibiades concludes his speech by remarking that we cannot liken Socrates to any other person, past or present. At best, we can compare him to a satyr who is god-like on the inside.

What does Diotima say that the purpose of love is what does she say the aim of love is?

Diotima’s next move is to ask in what way people pursue love. She cryptically claims that Love’s function is “giving birth in beauty both in body and in mind.” All people, she asserts, are pregnant in body and mind and naturally want to give birth when they reach a certain age.