Plato’s Symposium 201d-212c is primarily focused on Socrates’s speech. The Greek philosopher and thinker addresses Agathon about the notion and nature of Love. He uses the wisdom he received from Diotima of Mantinea in order to explain what role and place Love holds. The first aspect of the speech focuses on Agathon’s arguments about Love being inherently good and beautiful. Such a statement implies that Love is self-sufficient and, thus, does not need or require external sources for goodness and beauty. Socrates recalls that he then assumed that Love must be ugly if it is not inherently beautiful. Diotima called the statement blasphemy, pointing out the highly limited “black and white” view of Socrates. She revealed that there is always a space between two extremes, where Love can also reside. The author writes, “what is he, Diotima? He is a great spirit (daimon), and like all spirits, he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal” (Plato, n.d., p. 1). In other words, it is explained that Love is not inherently beautiful or ugly but rather a concept, which is a constant need for beauty and goodness. It is neither a god nor mortal but rather a spirit that communicates the latter two entities.
Moreover, the spirit of Love is explained to be a daimon, who is a child of two other gods, Poros and Penia. Penia or Poverty conceived Love by seizing the opportunity when Poros or Plenty was asleep in the garden of Zeus (Plato, n.d.). In other words, Love encompasses the dualistic natures of its parents, which resulted in the uniqueness and intricacy of Love as a force of nature and spirit. The spirit of Love is “by nature neither mortal nor immortal, but alive and flourishing at one moment when he is in plenty, and dead at another moment, and again alive by reason of his father’s nature” (Plato, n.d., p. 2). Therefore, the daimon is not a fixed entity but rather something that resembles a process under constant change.
Diotima further explains that wisdom is not sought out by gods or wise people, who are wise enough already, and ignorant. Therefore, wisdom is only of interest to people in between wisdom and ignorance. It is stated, “they are those who are in a mean between the two; Love is one of them. For wisdom is a most beautiful thing, and Love is of the beautiful; and therefore Love is also a philosopher” (Plato, n.d., p. 2). Therefore, Love is a concept, which manifests itself in need for wisdom and beauty, but it is not inherently good as gods.
It is important to note that the narrative suggests that Love comes in layers of revelations, which is why it is similar to a learnable skill. It is explained that one needs to seek beautiful forms in order to develop an appreciation and Love for beauty, meaning that the former needs the latter. After this process, one will be highly protective and appreciative of the newfound beauty. Next, one will learn to see beauty in other forms as well, which will make him or her appreciates the beauty in many forms. Then, one will eventually learn that all forms contain beauty, and they are all equivalent to each other. After this step, one will ascend to see beauty in knowledge, which will lead to the beauty of laws and institutions, which will lead to the beauty of science. The following step is one’s appreciation of beauty in nature, which leads to the final stage, which is the beauty of communion.
Reference
Plato. (n.d.). Plato, Symposium excerpt (201d-212c) [PDF document].