Plato_What_Is_Love

What Is Love What is love' Philosophers have searched for centuries to place an explanation on who Love truly is and they have yet to do as great of a job as Socrates. They have argued theories and one of the greatest arguments of love was in Plato's "Symposium" between Agathon and Socrates. Agathon starts out the argument by saying that Love is the youngest and most beautiful of all of the God's. He is the most beautiful because he searches only for those who are beautiful and have the potential to love. Love is the youngest because the oldest gods would not have fought and been in turmoil if Love had been around; if Love were there then the gods would have been in brotherhood and peace. Agathon ends his speech with a round of applause from everyone in the room, but one. There is one man in the symposium that disagrees with what Agathon had to say. Socrates disproves Agathon's statements about Love by asking simple questions. These questions include: “Would someone who is tall, want to be tall'” and “Would a strong man want to be strong'” By asking these questions, Socrates proved that Agathon’s outlook on love could be wrong. He believed that love was not beautiful or young for the simple reason that he would not need those two things if he already had them. Instead Love is completely different than what Agathon previously thought. Socrates starts his speech by telling about his encounter with a lady by the name of Diotima, who enlightened him as to what Love really is. She starts out by questioning Socrates just as he had done to Agathon later, and she gets Socrates to admit that Love is not beautiful or good. She pushes farther and gets Socrates to admit that Love neither a god nor man but rather a spiritual being, a messenger between god and man, simply because Love does not have beauty and happiness as a god does. Diotima then tells Socrates all about Love’s parents and how love was conceived. She tells Socrates that when Aphrodite was born there was a huge party thrown for her and Penia, poverty, came begging. When one of the gods, Poros went to sleep in the vineyard Penia pregnated herself by laying next to him so as to force Poros to give her resources. Love is “…tough and shriveled and shoeless and homeless…” because of his mother and “brave, impetuous, and intense, an awesome hunter… a lover of wisdom throughout his life, a genius with enchantments, potions and clever pleadings.” because of his father. Love is a lover of beauty because he was born on Aphrodite’s birthday. Since Love comes from two very different parents he is never without resources but never rich of them either. We know that love is neither wise nor dumb because a wise man does not love wisdom, and Love neither dumb because a ignorant man does not crave knowledge because he is too ignorant to know that he is dumb. In short Love is tough, shriveled, homeless and shoeless. He is neither smart nor dumb, beautiful nor ugly, and rich nor completely without. Love is brave, impetuous, intense, an awesome hunter, a lover of wisdom, and a genius of enchantments, potions and clever pleadings.