Throughout history Love has been a topic of conversation. Plato's Symposium provides us with many different views and theories about Love. ... After describing history of Love, he proposes that each person is half of a complete love relationship, a whole. ... It is perfectly accepted having males seek Love with females; if no Love is found having males interacting with the females, so that by the mutual embraces of man and woman they might breed, and the race might continue. Or, equally so, if a man came to a man to seek Love; if Love is not found they might be satisfied and go about th...

• Word Count: 367
• Approx Pages: 1

In Plato's "Symposium," the very influential speech by Diotima describes an ascent from loving particular kinds of beauty to loving Beauty itself. ... Throughout the Symposium, the audience hears many accounts from various intellectuals that have been invited to a special party. ... These philosophers talk about Eros (Love) and match their wits to see who can give a greater eulogy of Eros. ... The extent to which this gift can be granted, Diotima says, can be compared to a person giving up everything to be with someone they love. ... On that account, Agathon's main point is that ...

• Word Count: 1088
• Approx Pages: 4

In Plato's Symposium there are three major speeches given by Aristophanes, Socrates and Alcibiades, where each portrays a different aspect of human sexuality and love. ... Plato then tells us that the human longing for its other half resulted from this cutting of the humans into two halves; "Since their original nature had been cut in two, each one longed for its own other half and stayed with it (191a) That's how, long ago, the innate desire of human beings for each other started. ... Upon further analyzation of Aristophanes" speech one can infer that once humans were united with...

• Word Count: 608
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

This active procreation, according to Aristophanes, is the source of our love for one another. ... Additionally, beneath the surface of his speech is the idea that love was made to tame eros and ensure that custom/law was not challenged. Eros poses the greatest threat to the law, but the pursuit of love tames it. It is important to remember that the soul is greater then the body, and while sex provides the method for two people to temporarily reunite there is something greater that makes two people want to be mended back together, and that is the love of the soul. ...

• Word Count: 868
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School