Symposium

According to Pausanias’s argument Common and Celestial are distinct forms of Love, the latter being higher, more intelligible and honorable form of love. Pausanias identifies Common Love as less worthy of praise and he dedicates his speech towards praising Celestial Love and explaining what is honorable and what is not. He contrasts ‘good’ and ‘bad’ forms of Love regardless of which since neither God can be wrong. Pausanias mentions societal rules affect the forms of love present in places such…

As Socrates wraps up his speech and the group was applauding him, a noise came from outside and this was Alcibiades. Alcibiades is drunk and everyone there wants Alcibiades to stay after he said he wanted to join. He sits next to Socrates and Agathon on the couch which separates the two of them. Alcibiades then notices Socrates is on the same couch as Agathon, the most beautiful person in the room and Socrates says that Alcibiades is jealous. The conversation then leads to everyone wanting him…

The preface of The Republic of Plato states that “One must look at the microcosm of the drama just as one would look at the macrocosm of the world which it represents.” This statement asserts the significance of the dramatic details found within the text, which not only help to further Plato’s argument, but are also crucial to our understanding of the text as a whole. At the climax of The Republic of Plato lies one of philosophy’s most prominent and beautiful images, the Allegory of the Cave.…

I chose my friend in Philosophy to be Plato, and he is one of the most well-known philosophers who ever lived. Plato was born in Athens Greece, and is believed to be born in the years of 428-427 BCE (Britannica). Plato died within the years of 348-347 BCE, and he is believed to have lived as old as eighty one or eighty four years old. In his life he became a student under Socrates teachings, and Socrates was one of the first philosophers known, who is also the first to have his ideas and…

I will be addressing Diotima’s speech on the nature and rites of Love. Diotima finds that “mortal nature seeks so far as possible to live forever and be immortal”. The rites of Love have the ability to connect mortal and immortality, fulfilling our ultimate goal. “One goes always upwards for the sake of this Beauty, starting out from beautiful things and using them like rising stairs: from one body to two and from two to all beautiful bodies, then from beautiful bodies to beautiful customs, and…

Attending the 45th Annual Meta M. Downes Speech-Language and Hearing Symposium was very beneficial to my future career as a Speech Language Pathologist. The information retained from the symposium allowed me to connect that knowledge to current courses in my undergraduate major. For example, Dr. Ellis presentation on Aphasia Prognosis, Recovery Patterns and Outcomes correlated with the information that I am currently learning in Neuroscience course. Additionally, Dr. Clark presentation about…

“What’s the difference between here—America—and Vietnam?” I received this question every time someone found out that I was born and raised in Vietnam. Before I came to America, I lived in a Communist country that controlled almost every aspect of your life. I had to go to a state approved school—which my family had to pay for—that propagated a lot of media that shows America as an evil country. I grew up in an environment where your future occupation is usually the occupation of your father or…

Socrates and Phaedrus discuss love and erotic love throughout the dialogue of Plato’s Phaedrus. The dialogue also discusses rhetoric itself and the ways in which it is and should be practiced, as well as subjects such as metempsychosis. The dialogue in Phaedrus does not allow for any introductions to explain the story. This is somewhat unusual as it comes as a first-hand dialogue, uninterrupted by nobody and nothing. It plays out almost as if we are witnessing the events ourselves. Socrates’…

In Mythology by Edith Hamilton, the Greeks thought love was extremely important, but also hurtful, deadly, and destructive. The Greeks treat the love myths in a way that is different from most of our modern-day ideas of love. In the love stories, love is described as a force which ends in a tragic tale of death. Also, many stories of unrequited love that ends in sadness when address their love to the objects they fall in love with. The stories of “Pygmalion and Galatea”, “Narcissus” and…

Plato utilized the dialogue form in Plato’s Symposium is that in this style, the characters in the work of literature can voice their opinions. The characters can also seem to speak to the readers who read the work of literature. Let’s take Pausanias accordingly. From the first paragraph of his speech about love, he said, “I don’t expect you’ll disagree with me about the two goddesses, will you?” From this question he poses to the reader, it seems that he can tell that the reader will accept…