Diotima of Mantinea

Diotima, Socrates' great teacher from the Symposium, a work by Plato was one of the most influential women thinkers of all time, whether she was a real person or a literary fictional character. She related to Socrates the theory of love that he described to the partygoers at Agathon's banquet, a celebration of Agathon's victory at the competition of Dionysis in Athens and of Eros. Before we search for the idea of why Diotima is a woman, we should first discuss a little about her. We know that

Diotima, Socrates' great teacher from the Symposium, a work by Plato was one of the most influential women thinkers of all time, whether she was a real person or a literary fictional character. She related to Socrates the theory of love that he described to the partygoers at Agathon's banquet, a celebration of Agathon's victory at the competition of Dionysis in Athens and of Eros.      Before we search for the idea of why Diotima is a woman, we should first discuss a little

of Diotima’s story, there are many remarks made to discredit and antagonize Aristophanes. First is the fact that Diotima retells a story of the origin of love as two human beings being one and then are split apart. However in his speech earlier in the Symposium Aristophanes claims to have just created this myth of the top of his head. Aristophanes is then forced to question how Diotima can claim to have previously heard this story he just made up. The origin of love story acts as a catalyst for the

Kendrick Narcisse Philosophy 12/21/16 Understanding Of Love: In both plays, Antigone and The Symposium the theme of love is apparent, but not always through the same lens. Through the dynamism of characters Antigone and Socrates we can see the differences and similarities in the understandings of love and connect the two. In Antigone’s case, her character is very dynamic and has a very interesting role by showing very distinct personality traits and someone who holds strong to their convictions

Love, in classical Greek literature, is commonly considered as a prominent theme. Love, in present days, always appears in the categories of books, movies or music, etc. Interpreted differently by different people, Love turns into a multi-faceted being. In Plato’s work Symposium, Phaedrus, Pausania, Eryximachus, Aristophane and Agathon, each of them presents a speech to either praise or definite Love. Phaedrus first points out that Love is the primordial god; Pausanias brings the theme of “virtue”

this descriptions of love provided by Diotima. Socrates embodies the dualistic forms of love in the metaphysical (the sprit) and the mortal (bodily) that form the perfect union of both aspects of life. The Symposium provides examples of love through the gods, right and wrong, and other aspects of loving, but Socrates embodies the dualism of the diamond (the spirit) and the mortal link to the body that must be unified in order to love as a virtuous person. Diotima defines the important link between the

Symposium because of the objective for humans to reach continuity through a drunken state of being. After reading Erotism, Diotima cannot be the final speech in The Symposium. Diotima could often be read as the most important speech in The Symposium, therefore she should be the last speech because her speech is based around the conception of love. Socrates begins to question Diotima about what love actually is. She says: “I think that’s why love struck you as beautiful in every way: because it is what

Erotic Ascension and Stylistic Hoverance: The Symposium Body The initial sentence of the Symposium—“In fact, your question does not find me unprepared”—operates with an odd and mordant brevity. The close sandwiching of “in fact” and “does not” is a performative linkage of qualifiers that, in consideration of later text, functions as stylistic foreshadowing—what might be read as subtle mockery of the dialogic form (in that the sentence responds to an unknown provocatory referent) also hesitantly establishes

Aditya Mankare adityamankare@gmail.com Human Situation Dr. Brandon Lamson 13th November 2017 “Love as a Tool for Personal Gain” Plato’s Symposium depicts a party, at which several historical figures discuss at length about their numerous perspectives of Love – both the God and the idea of Eros. The whole idea of the Symposium was to uncover the true meaning of love. Socrates is obsessed with the mystery of love and how we should understand its importance. Love can be defined as a force compelling

My sense of self and my understanding of the power of voice constantly shift as I continue to educate myself and learn more about the world and the many cultures that exist within it. Even before I entered the Honors College, I put effort into defining my sense of self differently as my comprehension of the world expanded. When I was young, I defined my sense of self as a member of my family. As I continued to grow, I began to recognize my voice as a member of a larger community. However, Culture