difficult and intentionally obsessive, Plato’s Phaedrus is an exceedingly difficult read that defies all conventional logic as a piece of discourse. The text is extremely subjective, open to interpretation and individual creativity as to what or whom the narrative is about. Written by Plato, a close disciple of Socrates, this text is set along the Illissus river where Phaedrus and Socrates meet for a day of speech, debate, rhetoric and okay…flirting. Phaedrus leads of the day and recites a speech by his
Context and Contradictions in Plato's Phaedrus and Plato's Symposium It is well known that Plato, a devoted student of Socrates, chronicled many of Socrates' speeches and conversations. Every so often one can find instances where Socrates and other players in these conversations seem to contradict themselves, or at least muddle their arguments. One such occurrence of this is in Plato's Symposium and Plato's Phaedrus. Both texts speak of love in its physical sense, both texts describe love and
Plato's Views on the Technology of Writing In the book Phaedrus Plato offers a lot of criticism for a writing technology that not many of us would ever think as writing technology, let alone criticize it. This writing technology is none other than writing itself. When people think of writing technology they mostly think of the printing press, the computer, the typewriter and such. Yet no one stops to think of writing. Writing has had such a major impact on society that who would ever think
was attained by taking small steps in a larger direction. Diotima explained to Socrates, that to attain the deepest love, he had to follow a certain order. Much like stepping up on the "rungs in a ladder"(211c), love's nature started small, with Phaedrus and Pausinas merely stating that there was good love and bad love. This was the first step, starting with "beautiful things"(211c) and making those things "reason for... ascent"(211c) up the proverbial ladder. Next Eryximachus' speech compared love's
meaning to because we're so used to the fact that they're always there. Friends aren't an exception to this statement. In the book, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig, the man telling the story, Phaedrus, lightly goes into this fact of life. Phaedrus is a very confused man with an interesting past, who tells the story about the man he used to be. While telling his story, he's travelling with two longtime friends, John and Sylvia Sutherland, and his son, Chris. During
of Plato, "[F]or most rhetoricians Plato has always played the same role he assigned to the sophists--the enemy" (Nienkamp 1). Plato will always appear to be the skilled rhetorician or artist who speaks out against rhetoric and art. In Apology and Phaedrus we see the character of Socrates rail against writing because it can quickly get out of control of the author and just as easily be misinterpreted, yet Plato is known for his skillful dialogical writing. In reference to the Divided Line, Plato informs
A) Plato’s Symposium is a story about a party in which the guests were so sick from continuous parties that instead of drinking at this one party they decide to give stories about love. With the permission of Phaedrus, Socrates has an interesting discussion Agathon instead of a monologue-styled story. Socrates actually starts by giving Agathon a series of questions about love. Socrates goes on to ask Agathon if a father must be father to something in order to be called a father. Then Socrates asks
day lives, such as the computer or a palm pilot, we tend to forget what came first. It is quite easy to understand why Socrates and others throughout history believed writing would be detrimental to society and the human mind. From Socrates’ “Phaedrus”, he argues against the idea of using writing, “…for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves
just plainly is. People tend to just go with it, and think that what they are feeling is really complete and substantial love. In Plato’s The Symposium, the reader is confronted with some very different views of love as brought to us by Agathon, Phaedrus and Socrates, to name a few. Each man at the dinner party has a different point of view on the issue of love. Some of the men are old lovers, and some are just friends, and each puts in his thoughts of love as the evening wears on. Socrates’ theories
In the text Phaedrus, Socrates and Phaedrus consider the nature of the soul in order to assess Lysias' speech, rhetoric in general, and the requirements of good rhetoric for a speaker and an audience. A chariot allegory is given to provide a separation between the rational and impulsive sides of man and suggest the ultimate pursuit of philosophy. Socrates explains the relation of madness to rhetoric by bringing attention to the good gifts that come out of madness, such as the noble lover. There are
The Phaedrus is a dialogue written by Plato regarding three characters: Socrates, Lysias, and Phaedrus. While it appears that the topic at hand is about love, the discussion really revolves around the true art of rhetoric and how it should be put into practice. The erotic action in the Phaedrus that comes from the erotic relationships of its characters causes the dialogue to resemble the true art of rhetoric. This can be seen through Plato’s dialogue as his plot and characterization consequently
Explain why Diotima’s Speech is superior to those of both Phaedrus and Aristophanes Aristophanes believes that two humans used to be combined as one, and we were separated by the Gods because they thought we had too much power together. He thinks the purpose of love is to seek out our other half and be with them. In his speech, however, he fails to think about whether or not our other half is good or bad. Diotima takes goodness into account. She says “…a lover does not seek the half or the whole
Balancing the Horses of Reason In the Phaedrus, Socrates uses the metaphor of the winged chariot to describe the soul. In the metaphor, Socrates illustrates how the soul is made up of a charioteer and two winged horses, one white and the other black. Socrates then goes to describe each of the components by saying “To begin with, our driver is in charge of a pair of horses; second, one of his horses is beautiful and good and from stock of the same sort, while the other is the opposite and has the
Plato’s Phaedrus deifies traditions and customs of ancient Greek writing. Plato’s narrative uses dialogue to teach the reader about rhetoric and love. Rhetoric as defined by Plato “is the art of moving the soul with words (speeches)”. Plato begins Phaedrus by introducing two characters; Phaedrus, a young man who is interested in becoming a great speaker, and Socrates, an older resident and philosopher of Athens. Plato provides the reader with three speeches each presenting a separate view on the
discussion, especially in Plato’s dialogues. In the Phaedrus and especially the Symposium, Plato discusses the nature of erotic love and give the argument for the ultimately transcendental object of love: Beauty. In both dialogues, Plato presents Socrates as a quintessential philosopher who is a lover of wisdom, and through his great speeches we are able to grasp Platonism and Plato’s view on the interesting theme. Let’s first focus on the Phaedrus, where Plato gives a detailed account of the psychology
In the Phaedrus, Socrates gives several speeches on the subject of Romantic love. Incidentally, Socrates is discussing about the same type of love I am. Given the time period and the numerous new definitions and discoveries on romantic since Plato’s time I interpret
most of Pirsig’s/Phaedrus’s thoughts that happened during that trip. It is a book about Quality, the results of scientific thinking, and insanity (his own). Zen is a look at how ancient Greek philosophy (through the thoughts/thought process of Phaedrus) has affected the current state of Western civilization and our future path, particularly in how it has affected our own culture. It also describes Pirsig's search, his insanity, and the culmination of his search afterwards. The distinction in logic/understanding
In this essay, I am going to prove that Socrates could fell in love. I will talk about how Socrates thinks about love, and then give proofs from Phaedrus and Symposium regarding why Socrates could fell in love. Firstly, Socrates thinks that it is better to be a non lover than a lover, since non lover would want his lover to be weak, and that is a negative influence. Then, he rejects his first speech, because that’s merely someone who does not able to see the real truth thinks. People who is fully
forward into discussing the fundamental differences in the treatment of rhetoric as perceived by Plato and Aristotle. For this reason (and in order to present a fuller account of Plato’s theory of rhetoric) not only Plato’s Gorgias, but also his Phaedrus is incorporated to the following analysis. Plato on sophists and rhetoric In Gorgias Plato claims that rhetoric is not a τέχνη (462b) and his accusations against sophists or rhetoricians seem to be reducible to three closely related arguments:
In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates encounters Phaedrus who has just come from a conversation with Lysias. Phaedrus invites Socrates to walk with him and hear what he has learned from his conversation with Lysias. The two read and discuss Lysias’ speech, and then enter into a discussion on how one can become an expert in rhetorical speaking and on whether writing is beneficial and acceptable or the contrary. Socrates’ thoughts on the subjects of rhetoric and writing will be the main points of this paper