The discussion of love and friendship is present throughout Plato’s Symposium, but it is centered in Lysis, Socrates’s dialogue where he defines the nature of friendship. The text captures Socrates’ opinion regarding Hippothales’ feelings towards Lysis, eldest son of Democrates. Another character, Ctesippus, expresses concerns about Hippothales’ feelings to Lysis, as there is no personal connection between the two, as they have “nothing particular to talk about” 1. In addition, Ctesippus points to the fact that Hippothales excessively focuses on praising Lysis. There are several intersecting moments of the Lysis and Symposium that emphasize the fact that both works should be considered complementary to each other.
The Symposium is structured in seven different parts, presented by speeches from seven different speakers. In The Symposium, the speakers state their opinions on the nature of friendship and love. There are several similarities in The Symposium and Lysis that result in Lysis’ resemblance to a practical approach to the theme of love, or a case study, based on the speeches from the Symposium. For example, in his passionate affection for Lysis, young Hippothales makes the mistake of praising Lysis without concerning that Lysis can reject his feelings and that appraisal can worsen Hippothales’ misery in the future. Young Phaedrus, in his speech, makes a similar mistake of overestimating love and giving into romantic desires. According to Jinek, all seven speeches from The Symposium can be divided into five corresponding parts of Lysis that exhibit a similar approach to love2. Therefore, while The Symposium presents distanced philosophical discussion of love, Lysis defines different types of love and different personal needs and expectations from relationships with other people.
Bibliography
Jinek, Jakub. “Love and friendship in the Lysis and the Symposium: Human and Divine.” Rhizai, no. 1 (2008): 109-124.
Plato. Lysis, or Friendship, The Symposium; Phaedrus. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. Easton Press, 1979.
Footnotes
- 1. Plato, Lysis, or Friendship, The Symposium; Phaedrus, trans. Benjamin Jowett (Easton Press, 1979), 9.
- 2. Jakub Jinek, “Love and friendship in the Lysis and the Symposium: Human and Divine.” Rhizai, no. 1 (2008): 111.