She states the object of human love, what their love is 'of', is the permanent possession for themselves of the good (206A), and that the function of this love is to beget in the beautiful (206E). Keeping this in mind, we can understand why the guests at the symposium are stuck on Diotima’s ladder of love. As one of the prominent lovers, Phaedrus moves along the right lines when he reasons for love to be a teacher, but fails to understand the true meaning of love when he stays fixated on the concept of solely loving one other person (178E-179B). Likewise, as a beloved, Agathon fails to understand the concept of love because he is so focused on the idea that love is something young and eternally beautiful, simply “an ornament of all gods and men” (197E). The speakers at the symposium fail in climbing the ladder of love, not only because of their misconceptions about love itself, but also because they are satisfied with their position on the ladder and are not trying to achieve more. In other words, satisfaction leads to
She states the object of human love, what their love is 'of', is the permanent possession for themselves of the good (206A), and that the function of this love is to beget in the beautiful (206E). Keeping this in mind, we can understand why the guests at the symposium are stuck on Diotima’s ladder of love. As one of the prominent lovers, Phaedrus moves along the right lines when he reasons for love to be a teacher, but fails to understand the true meaning of love when he stays fixated on the concept of solely loving one other person (178E-179B). Likewise, as a beloved, Agathon fails to understand the concept of love because he is so focused on the idea that love is something young and eternally beautiful, simply “an ornament of all gods and men” (197E). The speakers at the symposium fail in climbing the ladder of love, not only because of their misconceptions about love itself, but also because they are satisfied with their position on the ladder and are not trying to achieve more. In other words, satisfaction leads to