Symposium and Republic

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The ancient words of Socrates have laid the foundation for many modern-day ideals, laws, and forms of government. However, though he has many wise words to offer, there appear to be fundamental inconsistencies between some of his discussions and allegories. The words of Socrates in the Symposium and Republic were written by his mentee, Plato, who uses Socrates’ persona to reflect his own thoughts (though, not necessarily all of his proper beliefs). Therefore, the apparent inconsistencies between Plato’s works may be reconciled when the disposition of Socrates in these texts is considered: he is a character. Socrates and other characters are purely vehicles of Plato’s thought-provoking persuasion. In the Symposium, the interlocutors give praise to everything good about desire; the nature and purpose of love (eros) is explored and, in the end, a broader concept of desire is reached. In the Republic, however, justice (dikaiosune) and reason are the main objectives while desire appears to be something that should be suppressed in a just man. Both dialogues aim to discover the nature of these concepts, their link to Virtue, and man’s relationship to the good and the beautiful. I will argue that the attitudes of these characters may seem to vary between dialogues, but the overall message of the pieces remains consistent and, moreover, that they supplement one another.
Many parallels can be observed between the Symposium and Republic; first, I will focus on two main theories of love presented in the former – that of Aristophanes and Socrates’ (Diotima). Throughout the Symposium, eros is used as an instrument to talk about true desire. Crude perspectives about the nature and purpose of love are given by Socrates’ associates until Socrat...

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... Socrates is seeking to persuade his companions to seek this ascent of Love to acquire the knowledge of true Forms. This should be the goal of a person’s life because it is only through this process that a man will find it possible to reproduce, not merely images of virtue, but true virtue (Symp 212a).
Only a lover of truth, i.e. a philosopher, who develops and strengthens reason’s desire for truth will be able to attain, as far as possible for a human being, the real good universally desired and to procreate “authentic virtue”, insofar as the attainment of justice and a full acquisition of the other virtues -moderation and bravery- requires knowledge of what the good is for an individual as well as for society, founded on the Good.460 In other words the attainment of the good universally desired requires wisdom and the philosopher is the only one that looks for it.

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