In the book,” Plato’s Symposium,” by Plato, who was a philosopher in Greece, he illustrates the dialectic discussion at a party at Agathon’s to celebrate his triumph of his first tragedy. In the Symposium; the guests Phaedrus, an Athenian aristocrat; Pausanias, the legal expert; Eryximachus, a physician; Aristophanes, eminent comic playwright; Agathon ,a tragic poet and host of the banquet; Socrates, eminent philosopher and Plato 's teacher; and Alcibiades, a prominent Athenian statesman, orator
In one of his most accomplished works, Plato brings to light the topic of alcohol and the significance of drinking in The Symposium. Through this text, Plato is writing about philosophy is the setting of a narrative in order to reinforce the context of the story. Plato was a metaphilosophist that supported the theory of forms. He believed that understanding pure form, achieving true wisdom, is something that cannot be defined or reduced to words, and all people should strive to understand pure form
In Greek culture around the time of Plato, the perfect ideal person was considered. Plato’s idea that there was a perfect world of ideas affected this pieces subject and the subject’s action. Many works of his time period were sculptures that were meant to be viewed from all angles, attempting to be a closer match to that of the ideal. This idea that the ideal world was real and what matter not the physical also effect the actions depicted in many works of this time
In Plato’s, The Symposium, there are a multitude of things that get discussed amongst the group of men, one of those theories being the idea of beauty. To truly understand what Plato thinks about beauty, you have to understand his idea of forms, and the Form of Beauty. He describes this as an “everlasting loveliness which never comes nor goes, which neither flowers nor fades”. The essence to understanding this form, is that we can realize all beautiful things share the Form of Beauty. But only in
Plato’s Symposium explores the nature of love through several different telling’s of what love is by philosophers of the time. The speeches of Socrates, Alcibiades, and Aristophanes are of main focus, as their similarities and differences help the reader to decide the truth of the nature of love. Throughout the Symposium, the accounts of love vary from speaker to speaker. The speech given by Socrates differentiates from the viewpoints of Alcibiades and Aristophanes, as well as all of the other speeches
work, and the effects of the depiction upon the rest of the specific work. These works are of course Thucydides’, The History of the Peloponnesian War and Plato’s Symposium, and the man discussed is the Athenian giant, Alcibiades of the Alcmaeonidae. The authors, of course, have their own aims and reasons for writing their works, Plato, writing an allegory on love likely to defend his teacher Socrates, and Thucydides, to inform on what he believes to be the most significant war in history. The genres
Professor Dr. Sarah Woolvine March 23rd, 2015. Tittle: Analysis of Speeches Given in Praise of Eros on Plato’ Symposium Among the ancient Greek philosophers, Plato was one of the greatest. Known for his remarkable philosophical works, Plato was born into a very prominent Athenian family, and he was expected to have a proliferous political career, but the political scene at that time made Plato devote himself instead to his philosophical inquiry, and teaching others about it. His passion for
Utopia by Thomas More, and The Symposium by Plato are similar in that they both challenge pre-existing notions in society. The two stories prompt readers to reconsider certain aspects of life which one might have found to be quite one-sided. Thomas More introduces us to an island called Utopia which serves as a model of perfection in each facet of everyday life. In The Symposium, Plato and his friends contribute distinctive interpretations on the origin and meaning of love. Both author’s purpose
Stairway to Immortality Besides being a phenomenal writer and philosopher, it seems Plato had the gift of foresight as well. At a glance, a Greek novel about love and an ancient Mesopotamian epic seem to have nothing in common. However, what is interesting to see is that not only do the two share very similar themes, but one acts as a how-to guide for the other. In both novels, Plato’s The Symposium and The Epic of Gilgamesh, the main protagonists deal with the concept of immortality. In Gilgamesh
Plato’s Symposium is a glimpse into antiquity of some philosophical conversations on love. The focus here is on two different perspectives between Aristophanes and Socrates. Aristophanes gives us his view on love by telling a mythical account on how human nature came to be. There were once three types of beings, male-male, female-female and male-female, which the later would be known as androgynous. They were each round with four arms, four legs, and two faces on opposite sides of their being and