Plato's first major dialogue is The Apology, which documents the trial and defense speech of his teacher, Socrates, who, despite proving his innocence using the Socratic method, is found guilty and executed. ... Plato's five greatest and most well known writings are, The Apology, Phaedo, Crito, The Republic, and Symposium. ... Symposium is about the function and purpose of love. ... In his writing, Phaedrus he states that one needs to alter one's form and style of discourse so that it might correspond to a particular audience: [One] must analyse on the same principles the n...

• Word Count: 1563
• Approx Pages: 6

In reading Horace's Satires and Epistles and Plato The Symposium, a very ironic discovery can be made. ... He does not put himself on a heavenly level, like Diotima in Plato's Symposium, but guarantees his readers that although he has knowledge of how to live a satisfying life and can administer advice on it; he too struggles against his damning nature. Plato's Symposium is a collection of speeches, made by a group of social degenerates about love. The first few speeches were fairly vague and uninteresting. ... Previously Socrates had been questioning Agathon about his spee...

• Word Count: 1606
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

(Symposium, 37)" Love inspires people to do great things, and is the greatest source of pleasure there is. ... The people in Plato's Symposium are truly great and wise men. ... (Symposium, 20)" The moral value of this sentence is questionable. ... Agathon's speech is masterful. ... His speech is, again, not so much a speech as a dialog between himself and Diotima, a woman he claims taught him the art of love. ...

• Word Count: 1657
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School