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A review by sidharthvardhan
The Symposium by Plato
4.0
Normaly Socrates takes the other people on a ride of constant questioning - Socratic method, but the subject of discourse is always some abstract word which he overloads with multiple meamings rather reducing their value. Unlike Aristotle he don't seem interested in giving definations - he says he can't and rather destroys definations others offer. This is not the case here as he didn't get speak till the end.
The dialogue is full of a diverse variety of myths offered by different people which, given that subject is love, are all very poetic in nature. The views forwarded are quite liberal - one of them forgives lover everything, another calls love a mean or unions - love being offspring of god of riches and godess of poverty; yet another called Love first of all gods who destroyed chaos on his qppearance and so on. The concept of Platonic love is only hinted with out naming it as one of two kinds of love.
One of them gives a story in which he tells that people intially had two heads and four hand and arms, till Zeus seprated them and that now we yearm for our 'other half'. This last view accepts homsexuallity (for orher halfs were not always of opposite sex) as natural which is adorable given it is still facing so many prejudices
Socrates' opionon which he adopted from a lady when he was young, is best in the middle part where he proves (so to say) that love is yearning for possession of good (and then maintaing that possession) bacause possessing good gives one happiness. There is nothing platonic about love as far as he is concenred. Love is selfish as it desires immorality. Infact he expands the defination to so enormous levels that almost every act is seen as act of love.
The first and last one-eighth parts are rather redundant though, merely containing casuals conversations and a drunk's praises of Socrates.
The dialogue is full of a diverse variety of myths offered by different people which, given that subject is love, are all very poetic in nature. The views forwarded are quite liberal - one of them forgives lover everything, another calls love a mean or unions - love being offspring of god of riches and godess of poverty; yet another called Love first of all gods who destroyed chaos on his qppearance and so on. The concept of Platonic love is only hinted with out naming it as one of two kinds of love.
One of them gives a story in which he tells that people intially had two heads and four hand and arms, till Zeus seprated them and that now we yearm for our 'other half'. This last view accepts homsexuallity (for orher halfs were not always of opposite sex) as natural which is adorable given it is still facing so many prejudices
Socrates' opionon which he adopted from a lady when he was young, is best in the middle part where he proves (so to say) that love is yearning for possession of good (and then maintaing that possession) bacause possessing good gives one happiness. There is nothing platonic about love as far as he is concenred. Love is selfish as it desires immorality. Infact he expands the defination to so enormous levels that almost every act is seen as act of love.
The first and last one-eighth parts are rather redundant though, merely containing casuals conversations and a drunk's praises of Socrates.