At the end of the Symposium, Alcibiades gives a speech, in which he talks about his relationship with Socrates (37-39). Alcibiades talks about how even though Socrates is not physically attractive he has wisdom. He talks about how Socrates’s wisdom can be sexually and emotionally alluring to others (39). This serves as a reminder to the fact that Socrates has the attributes of the ideal lover, which were described in Diotima 's speech. Diotima says, “this will lead him on to consider that the beauty of the mind is more honorable than the beauty of the outward form” (Symposium 32). Philosophy is the pursuit and love of wisdom; Diotima describes it as the purest of all expressions of love (27). It also has the most powerful sexual and emotional
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All the previous speeches in the Symposium are used by Diotima to construct her whole speech. She takes the parts of truth in each speech and separates them from their false interpretation to get to the true nature of love. Such is the case when she criticizes Aristophanes’ conclusion, “ but I say that they are seeking neither for the half, nor for the whole, unless the half or whole be also a good” (Symposium 29). Aristophanes had thought that long ago people were cut in two by Zeus because they tried to get to the heavens (16). This is the same thing that Socrates does to Theaetitus when trying to define knowledge. He challenges every premise put forward and gets the interlocutor to carefully articulate. Then the interlocutor must explore alternative perspectives. Every definition adds on the last one until the end of the dialogue. You can see a step-by-step progression throughout the dialogue; to Socrates this is at the core of all philosophical discussion. This is connected to the idea that Eros (love) is the drive of the exchange of positions and perspectives. If your aim is to achieve true knowledge, Socrates believed that an issue must be broken into smaller questions. A thinker can recognize contradictions and distill the truth through the answers he
All the previous speeches in the Symposium are used by Diotima to construct her whole speech. She takes the parts of truth in each speech and separates them from their false interpretation to get to the true nature of love. Such is the case when she criticizes Aristophanes’ conclusion, “ but I say that they are seeking neither for the half, nor for the whole, unless the half or whole be also a good” (Symposium 29). Aristophanes had thought that long ago people were cut in two by Zeus because they tried to get to the heavens (16). This is the same thing that Socrates does to Theaetitus when trying to define knowledge. He challenges every premise put forward and gets the interlocutor to carefully articulate. Then the interlocutor must explore alternative perspectives. Every definition adds on the last one until the end of the dialogue. You can see a step-by-step progression throughout the dialogue; to Socrates this is at the core of all philosophical discussion. This is connected to the idea that Eros (love) is the drive of the exchange of positions and perspectives. If your aim is to achieve true knowledge, Socrates believed that an issue must be broken into smaller questions. A thinker can recognize contradictions and distill the truth through the answers he