Plato’s Symposium
Quickwrite
Free-write for ten minutes to start answering
this question:
How do you define romantic love?
Socrates
• c. 469-399 B.C
• lived in Athens during a time of transition
• Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.), Sparta
defeats Athens
• Lived simply, outside of politics
• Greatly influenced Athens’ youth and
Western philosophy
• Teachings recorded by Plato
• Sentenced to death for blasphemy and
corrupting Athenian youth (politically
motivated though)
Plato
• c. 427-347 B.C.
• born into a prominent Athenian family,
expected to pursue a career in politics
• great admirer of Socrates, whose
execution turned him off to politics
• founded the Academy 385 B.C.
– Students included Aristotle
– Lasted in some form until 527 A.D.
– Serves as prototype for the Western university
system.
Plato’s Symposium
• Written in 360 B.C.E, later work (Socrates
as mouthpiece for Plato’s views)
• Complex framing device (“he said”, “I
heard”)
• Dinner Party (literally “drinks-party”)
honoring the tragedian Agathon’s first
victory in the dramatic festival
• Socratic discourse focused on the meaning
of Love
How Do I Love Thee?
The Four Loves:
– Storge (affection): natural affection occurring
between people whom fate has thrown together,
like that felt by parents for offspring
– Philia (friendship): dispassionate, virtuous love
including loyalty to friends, family, and community,
and requires virtue, equality and familiarity.
– Eros (romance): passionate love, with sensual
desire and longing
– Agape – unconditional love: deeper sense of
"true love" rather than the attraction suggested by
eros
Apollodorus
• The second-level narrator of the
Symposium, and the first character
encountered in the dialogue
• Apollodorus heard the story of the
symposium from Aristodemus and
recounts it once more to an unnamed
companion.
Aristodemus
• Guest at the symposium, a great admirer of
Socrates
• First-level narrator of the events (the source)
Phaedrus
• Handsome young man, a guest at the
symposium and an admirer of Socrates
• His suggestion to discuss Love
• First to speak
• Posits that Love is one of the oldest of the
gods, and the one that does the most to
promote virtue in people.
Pausanias
•
•
•
•
Another guest at the Symposium
Life-long lover of Agathon (homosexuals)
Speaks second
Draws distinction between Common Love,
which involves simple and mindless
desire, and Heavenly Love
Eryximachus
• Doctor and guest at the symposium
• Presented throughout as rather pompous,
confident in his medical skills, and
insistent on maintaining order
• Suggests that good Love promotes
moderation and orderliness, and does not
restrict itself to human interaction (can be
found in music, medicine, etc.)
Aristophanes
• 445 - 385 B.C
• Greatest comic poet of ancient times
• Greatly influenced the course of comedy in the
Western tradition
• The Clouds: satirical attack on Socrates (but
presented as friends in the Symposium)
• Draws an engaging myth suggesting we were once
all twice the people we are now, but that our threat
to the gods prompted Zeus to cut us in half. Ever
since, we have wandered the earth looking for our
other half in order to rejoin with it and become
whole.
Agathon
• Greek tragedian in the ranks of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides
• Young, beautiful, and very clever with words –
uses rhetoric to disprove other views
• Partner in a life-long relationship with Pausanias
• Identifies Love as young, beautiful, sensitive,
and wise, also sees Love as responsible for
implanting all the virtues in us
• Questioned by Socrates, who suggests he has
spoken about the object of Love, not Love itself.
Diotima of Mantinea
• Woman whom Socrates claims to have
met, who taught him everything he knows
on the subject of Love.
• Doubtful if Diotima is meant
to represent any real person,
especially since her speech
is so authoritative and
oracular.
• As Diotima passed her
wisdom on to Socrates, so
Socrates passes this wisdom
on to his friends.
The Socratic Method
• Socrates questions guests to rationally
defend their views
• Whittles out the truth by illuminating logical
fallacies and eliminating hypotheses
• Guests zero in on what they do mean by
clarifying what they don’t mean
Assignments
• Print and read the Introduction. Underline unfamiliar
words and define them on the margins. Make notes
(questions, responses, etc.) on the margins.
• Print and read through your philosopher, using the same
approach for note-taking as with the Intro.
• Prepare a paraphrasing of your philosopher’s position to
present to your group. You may bullet and underline for
easier presentation, but you must write in complete
sentences.
• Answer the Socratic Questions worksheet from the
perspective of your author.
• Read Socrates’ response and make notes. As a group,
you will create a paraphrasing of Socrates’ position.
• Write a response to the topics addressed and/or
methodology used in Plato’s Symposium.
*All documents are available on my Foothill web page.
Schedule
Days 1 & 2: Read the Intro and your philosopher’s
excerpt while making notes
Day 3: Prepare paraphrasing of excerpt
Day 4: Philosopher group discussion
Day 5: Revise paraphrasing of excerpt and complete
Socratic Questions.
Day 6 & 7: Dinner Party 1: Discuss the Intro and
present philosopher’s position
Day 8: Read Socrates’ response while making notes
Day 9: Dinner Party 2: Discuss Socrates’ response.
Day 10: Dinner Party 3: Prepare paraphrasing of
Socrates’ response.
Day 11: Draft Personal Response
What Will I Collect?
The final paraphrasing of your philosopher’s
excerpt
The Socratic Questions sheet
Your group’s paraphrasing of Socrates’
response
Your printed Personal Response to Plato’s
Symposium (document can be emailed)