Aristophanes Views on Love
In the Symposium, a most interesting view on love and soul mates are provided by one of the characters, Aristophanes. In the speech of Aristophanes, he says that there is basically a type of love that connects people. Aristophanes begins his description of love by telling the tale of how love began. He presents the tale of three sexes: male, female, and a combination of both. These three distinct sexes represented one’s soul. These souls split in half, creating a mirror image of each one of them. Aristophanes describes love as the search for the other half of your soul in this quote: “When a man’s natural form was split in two, each half went round looking for its other half. They put their arms around one another, and embraced each other, in their desire to grow together again. Aristophanes theme is the power of Eros and how not to abuse it.
Aristophanes thinks that a human’s love is clearly “a lack” – a lack of one’s other half- and having no meant to satisfy themselves they begin to die. Zeus, having failed to foresee this difficulty repairs the damage by inventing sexual reproduction (191 b-c). Any “embracements” of men with men or of women with women would of course be sterile – though the participants would at least “have some satiety of their union and a relief,” (191 c) and therefore would be able to carry on the work of the world. Sex, therefore, is at this stage a drive, and the object is defined only as human. Sexual preferences are to emerge only as the human gains experience, enabling them to discover what their “original form” had been.
Aristophanes has mildly insulted the previous speakers in two ways. By claiming that one of the original forms was androgynous, he has suggested that heterosexuality is at least as natural as male homosexuality – as is being a lesbian. In contrast, Empedokles in fact did hold to a theory of sorts based on fitness to the environment, the description at 191c strongly suggests that only heterosexual relationships yielding only a temporary satisfaction and relief, allowing the participants to go about their business.
He does go on to suggest that those who are sections of androgynes are “adulterers” “adulteresses” (191 d-e), but this can only show the rather bizarre belief that sexual intercourse with a member of the same sex does not constitute adultery.
1) I chose to summarize John Haule's Erotic Analysis and the Shape of Eros. I believe the papers main point was all about transference and the code of ethics it stands behind. The article did not necessarily change my view on the theories that we have gone over in any way. I basically took the article for what it was. The article talks about how Dr. Mathews is involved in a sexual relationship, which he is trying to figure out what exactly his patient means to him. He is confused on what his patient means to him because she is not his friend, daughter, or wife (p.35). He talked about how this one when he first saw her he was really attracted to her and that she was causing chaos. This is an example of Freud’s first drive, called the libido (lecture). The libido or Eros is our first drive, which is our sexual desire.
Through these almost 2 and a half centuries since the beginning of the Electoral College there has been a large change in population. Since then, the U.S. has grown from a mere 4 million to a looming number of around 300 million people. It is because of this population increase that the Electoral College has become obsolete and is beginning to fail at its duties. Alexander Hamilton was a Federalist and a supporter of the Electoral College who was quoted as saying “It was also desirable to afford as little opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder/ promise an effectual security against this mischief” (Document #1). The College would have prevented tumult and disorder for
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In the Aeneid, love is depicted as an uncontrollable emotion. Venus and Juno promote the romance between Dido and Aeneas. Dido, the queen of Carthage, begins to fall in love with Aeneas, even though she has vowed to her late husband that she would set her “face against marriage” (Virgil 975). Aeneas falls in love with Dido and remains with her in Carthage, even though he knows that he must continue his travel to Rome. Love is a passion which consumes the soul in spite of its will. It is an “inward fire” (Virgil 976). Juno arranges it so that Dido and Aeneas consummate their love in a cave during a storm. Again, mortals have little or no control over their loves. The gods are the ones who cause people to fall in love.
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Some of the founders wondered if it would be wise to permit average citizens to vote but wanted to stay true to their republican principles. The Electoral College was their answer. Because the system is written into the Constitution, an amendment would be required to alter the process. Like the Senate, the Electoral College helps to distribute power away from the most populated areas of the US. California gets 55 votes compared to Wyoming’s 3, but this divide would be much greater in a purely popular
The idea around the sexual tradition has drastically changed over the years; for centuries homosexuality was considered as a sinful act; but with developments in the scientific, cultural and social world this ‘act’ developed into an identity, a way of being based around characteristics which make an individual who they are. The essentialist theory reflects this in terms that in every concept known to be there is a formed idea around them; in terms of homosexuality the theory contributes to the idea that homosexuality is not just act, with reference to sodomy, but is a characteristic of the individual who engages in the act; an identiy.
In his paper which is called Is There A History of Sexuality, Halperin drew a distinction between the topics of sexuality and of sex. He claimed that the two concepts are separate ideas. In Halperin's view, sex is a natural function that has not changed in many years, if ever at all. He says that sex “is a natural fact, grounded in the functioning of the body, and as such, it lies outside of history and culture” (Halperin 416). This means that sex cannot be measured in historical thought, for it has not changed since the beginning of time. As a natural function, it will continue to exist without the influence of culture, for it has always existed inside of the natural body. Sexuality, on the other hand, is a completely different issue to be considered. Sexuality is a socially created phenomenon, or as Halperin says, “sexuality is not a somatic fact, it is a cultural effect” (Halperin 416). This means that sexuality is entirely dependant upon the social world because it is created by the social world. Halperin argues against the prevailing concept that our sexual activities make any statements about our sexuality in and of itself. Halperin claims that “one of the currently unquestioned assumptions about sexual experience which the study of antiquity calls into question is the assumption that sexual behavior reflects or expresses an individual's 'sexuality'” (Halperin 417). With this statement, Halperin raises the issue of what exactly a sexuality is, and how it can be defined. Specifically, Halperin is saying that the modern concept of sexuality can not be applied to the supposed sexualities expressed...
Love, in classical Greek literature, is commonly considered a prominent theme. Love, in present days, always appears in the categories of books, movies, music, etc. Interpreted differently by different people, Love turns into a multi-faceted being. In Plato’s work Symposium, Phaedrus, Pausania, Eryximachus, Aristophane and Agathon, each of them presents a speech to either praise or definite Love. Phaedrus first points out that Love is the primordial god; Pausanias brings the theme of “virtue” into the discussion and categorizes Love into “good” one or “bad” one; Eryximachus introduces the thought of “moderation’ and thinks that Love governs such fields as medicine and music; Aristophanes draws attention to the origin and purposes of Love; Agathon enunciates that the correct way to present an eulogy is first to praise its nature and gifts.
In Sigmund Freud’s “Sexual Morality and Modern Nervousness”, contained in Sexuality and the Psychology of Love, the writer presents separate roles for men and women as it relates to sexuality, even referring to a “double code of morality” (22) for the genders. In his paper the former often takes the role of the subject while the former becomes the object. In fact, women are described as the “true sexual guardians of the race” glorified, it seems, instead of truly studied. However, in one particular section of the essay, Freud turns his focus onto the female sexuality. In specific he references the various factors that, in his eyes, can influence the female sexual formation. The primary influences being that of the society, primarily the institution of marriage, and that of the family, which would include both a woman’s parents and children. After discussing these elements, Freud then
It is projected that A&D would need twelve Windows 2000 workstations (at $3,000 each) and five Windows 2000 servers (at $12,500 each).
with some very different views of love as brought to us by Agathon, Phaedrus and
Leisure’s article provides us with examples that deter the word natural to its various definitions when referring to homosexuality, and why they were inconsistent. He provides various examples to emphasize that homosexuality is not unnatural, and in this case we were “enable to find a meaning for unnatural that enables us to arrive at the conclusion that homosexuality is unnatural or that if homosexuality is unnatural, it is therefore wrongful behavior”.