The Symposium

Running head : THE SYMPOSIUM

The Symposium

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The Symposium

I am a great admirer of philosophers and Socrates is one of the philosophers I admire most . I like his exemplary tactics and I respect him most especially since I have learned that he is the one who initiated rhetoric . Without paying any heed on his appearance or to the people which surrounds him , I have heard tales of Socrates standing in the market place , asking different questions which

people found silly However , Socrates is never silly at all , if anything , he is one of the brightest men who had ever lived . Socrates is one of the philosophers I really admire and that is one of the primary reason why I am at awe when upon reading the Symposium I have learned that Diotima was able to impart some knowledge on Socrates . This is also primarily the reason why I find Diotima to be one of the most instructive characters in the Symposium

Diotima is a woman whom Socrates once met and he stated that it is from Diotima on which he learned everything he knows concerning the issue of love , I am at a loss though if Diotima is a person who really existed particularly because her speeches are extremely imposing and oracular Regardless of that I greatly admire the way Diotima passed her wisdom concerning the matter to Socrates , in the same manner that I admire Socrates way of passing wisdom to others

There are so many things I have learned in the Symposium . However I would focus on one thing which bothers me the most and that is when I have learned through the text the difference between lovers and loved ones . I have learned in the course of the Symposium that sexual relationships in ancient Athens were usually regarded in an asymmetrical manner in that the lover is considered as the active of the two while the loved one is regarded as the passive one in the relationship . In a way they seem to point out that in a usual relationship between the male and the female , the man always act as the lover while the woman is the loved one while in a relationship between two male persons the lover is always viewed as the older man pursuing a much younger and beautiful men who obtains the role of a loved one . It was also implied that the lover is the one who usually obtains greater sexual satisfaction than the loved one . In return for this sexual fulfilment the loved ones were given gifts , money , stature and even wisdom . Many of the Speakers in the Symposium offer different accounts of this particular relationship as the ideal of love , for one , Agathon provided us with an his version of love from his own standpoint (which is the loved one . Socrates on the other hand provided us with the standpoint from the version of a lover which in...