Platos Symposium :: essays research papers

Throughout history Love has been a topic of conversation. As the topic to the Symposium Socrates and his intellectual partners discuss what Love is and twist it’s meaning in every possible way. Each attendee of the dinner is given an opportunity to express his feelings and ideas about Love. Love can be molded to fit many styles, shapes, and types. Of those who were attending the Symposium, the majority of the men were homosexual or like Socrates bi-sexual. In this era, men commonly befriended young boys and taught them about Love. In exchange for sharing their knowledge, the older men gained sexual satisfaction. This started a cycle, when the young boys grew old they passed their knowledge on. The young boys in which were taught showed their appreciation by performing sexual acts. Love occurred in several ways. Physical and emotional attractions were the two main sources of Love. Love based on a single physical feature is just as possible as love of a person’s entire body and physical beauty. As talked about in the class discussion, Love of a person can be based on the Love of a physical feature. An individual can fall in Love with another even if he or she is not attracted to the other person’s mind. Opposite personalities can fall in Love with each other and do not need to base their Love on compatibility. Others base their Love on an emotional connection. This type of Love is the type thought to be most accepted by society, especially by women. In the class discussion, the females seemed to accept Love based on emotion and not based on physical beauty. It is hard to believe that Love can be formed solely on physical attraction and not on a spiritual connection. Emotional Love differs from physical Love due to the reason that no matter how much the person being loved changes physically, he or she will still be accepted and loved. Emotionally based Love can change according to the personality change of the loved one. If the person being loved no longer acts in a manner that is attracting to the person doing the loving then it is possible to fall out of Love that is emotionally based. Those who attended the symposium believed that there were two types of Love, Common Love and Heavenly Love. Heavenly Love is represented through the older man giving knowledge to the young boy in exchange for sexual gratification.