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Ethics of The Symposium.
Plato’s writing is usually concerned with ethics. The Symposium is a good example of this. It is presented as a dialogue, between friends, in a relaxed atmosphere, but it contains explicit guidelines concerning the conduct of moral life. I will firstly discuss Socrates’ definition of what love is, before looking at the ethical imperatives concerning behaviour and conduct.
After the other guests’ eulogies, Socrates says he cannot speak as beautifully, though
"I am prepared to tell the truth".
He begins by redefining what love is. He turns previous definitions, that love is beautiful, young, a god, around by stating that love is always of something, and this something is always lacking:
"Desire and love are directed at what you don’t have, what isn’t there, and what you need".
Love is not beautiful, it is the desire for the beautiful. If love is not beautiful it cannot be a god. Socrates retells Diotima’s myth which characterises love as the child of poverty and resource. Love is Hermaclitusly characterised as neither man nor god, but spirit, which
"Being intermediate between the other two, they fill the gap between them, and enable the universe to form an interconnected whole".
Love is the messenger between God and the people.
Socrates explains that love is necessary for people as love is the desire for good things, moreover, the possession of good things forever - which is a form of immortality. Immortality for mortals is the product of love, as love leads to pregnancy, both of body and mind. A child ensures the parents’ immortality, and the child of the mind, creation, ensures the artist’s immortality.
Diotima describes the way in which a person should live their lives in order to have a pregnant mind. Diotima speaks of "the correct way". This begins when the person is young:
· The person should be drawn to the beauty of bodies
· Originally, their passion should be directed at one body
· They should pursue this passion by appreciating the beauty of all beautiful bodies
· They should then regard the beauty of minds
· This will lead to the appreciation of practises and laws
· "After practises, the guide must lead him towards forms of knowledge"
· He will now appreciate the constant, underlining form of beauty, "This beauty always is"
This represents clear guidelines and structure for behaviour.
The importance of Alcibiades’ appearance is to enable the reader to realise that Socrates is the personification of the apex of the ethical structure. We realise this as we are told that Socrates will not sleep with Alcibiades, as this represents an earlier stage in the structure. Alcibiades himself is used to juxtapose Socrates higher ethical state, as he pursues the body and not the mind. The reader can therefore fully appreciate Socrates as the manifestation of his own ethical guidelines.
the structure of the symposium