Plato s Symposium Study Questions 1 Phaedrus 178a 180b 2 Pausanias 180c 185c 3 Eryximachus 185d 188e 4 Aristophanes 189a 193e 5 Agathon 194a 197e 6 Socrates 198a 201c 7 Diotima Part I 201d 206b 8 Diotima Part 2 206c 209e 9 Diotima Part 3 210a 212b SGR 10 Alcibiades Part 1 212c 217a 11 Alcibiades Part 2 217b 223a PHAEDRUS gods 1 Who or what is love according to Phaedrus Love is among the oldest of the 2 According to Phaedrus why is love so beneficial Love shows men how to lead good lives more than anything else Love teaches shame in acting disgracefully and pridefully 3 Why is an army of lovers such a good idea They would rather die than be cowardly in front of their partners and they would always strive to be courageous 4 Why does Phaedrus use Alcestis as an example of a lover Alcestis died for her husband Admetis and the gods were so impressed that they brought her back from the underworld 5 Why is Orpheus considered a bad example of a lover He went to seek his wife Eurydice in Hades and came back empty handed and was later murdered by the Maenads 6 What criticism of Aeschylus does Phaedrus make 7 According to Phaedrus why did the gods honor Achilles more highly than Alcestis Because he was so courageous to kill the one whom killed his wife The gods honored him by sending him to the blessed island to die 8 What can we learn from this speech Is any of this relevant to us Love is a strong force to the gods and is the most ancient and honored of the gods ensures courage and happiness PAUSANIAS 1 According to Pausanias what are the two Aphrodites How would you describe the sort of love that each inspires Heavenly Love and Common Love Common love is when a man loves dumber women and young boys Heavenly love is between two males 2 What is the situation according to Pausanias with homosexual relationships in parts of Greece other than Athens Why is this the case Pausanias says that rape should be outlawed and is a wrong deed 3 According to Pausanias how does a lover erastes act Why is this not reprehensible 4 What is the response of the beloved eromenos Why 5 How does Pausanias distinguish between good and bad love Good love is when two love each other and seek acceptance from the other Bad love is when one seeks political uplifting from the other True love seeks wisdom 6 When is it honorable for the beloved to gratify the lover What does he mean by to gratify Gratified means sharing knowledge ERYXIMACHUS 1 What is Eryximachus profession Doctor How does this make him an expert on 2 What do love and medicine have in common Love is expressed in the bodily love Love is a bodily function responses of plants and animals 3 How does he explain love in musical terms both harmony and rhythm in music consist in creating agreement between divergent notes or divergent tempos 4 According to Eryximachus what is the purpose of love 5 How do the seasons and cooking relate to love good cooking must taste good 6 7 but it cannot make diners ill Good seasons good harvest good health Is this a good speech In the overall structure of the work what are the purposes of Eryximachus s speech Love dictates your life 8 How does this relate to Platonic philosophy of the soul ARISTOPHANES 1 According to Aristophanes how many sexes were there originally Explain male female and androgynous People had double everything 2 What was the source of these sexes Males Sun Females Earth Other Moon 3 Why was Zeus distressed and what did he do These creatures were threatening the gods so zeus and Apollo split everyone into two what we are now 4 What according to Aristophanes is the source of the belly button This is where Apollo tied us up from the dissection Reminds us humans of our defiance 5 How did Zeus revise his plan Zeus moved their sex parts to the front so they could have sex 6 How then does Aristophanes explain the existence of love Love is the name that we give to our desire for wholeness to be restored to our original nature 7 How does this theory explain the existence of male homosexuals lesbians and heterosexuals At one time us humans had two of one sexual system and therefore we want to unite these 8 Which of these three categories does Aristophanes admire most and why Love between a man and a boy Homosexual 9 What is peculiarly modern about Aristophanes theory 1 Why does Socrates think that Agathon will give such a great speech NB there is additional insight to this question in the speech of Alcibiades 2 According to Agathon what are the characteristics about love Love is a good god and not only a sentiment with good reapings beautiful young and peaceful sensitive not forceful justice moderation courage and wisdom 3 Who or what is Agathon really describing HIMSELF 4 What is Love s relationship with ugliness 5 What is the tone of Agathon s speech Softness 6 What is this speech s intended purpose AGATHON SOCRATES 1 Who was Socrates Plato s mentor 2 What is Socrates complaint about Agathon s eulogy debt of influence to the great orator Socrates has Agathon agree that Love must be love of beauty which in turn implies that Love itself must be wholly without beauty 3 What points does Socrates make about the nature of love in his conversation with Agathon Socrates has Agathon agree that Love must be love of beauty which in turn implies that Love itself must be wholly without beauty 4 According to Socrates what is the relationship between Love and beauty Love is beauty less because it wants beauty 5 Why does Agathon take back everything he just said Socrates is the mentor 6 What do we call the approach that Socrates uses in pursuing the right answer with Agathon Disproving DIOTIMA Part I 1 Who is Diotima Is she real 2 Why would Socrates make up the character of Diotima 3 According to Diotima why is love not a god What then is love What is his function How does this pick up on ideas developed by Eryximachus 4 Who were the parents of Love according to Diotima How did they produce a child 5 How does the parentage of Love affect its characteristics 6 According to Diotima what is the goal of the lover of the beautiful Why 7 How does Diotima define love DIOTIMA Part 2 1 Why is procreation an important part of love 2 What do immortality and harmony have to do with procreation 3 What is the difference between pregnant in body and pregnant in mind Which is better and why 4 What does Diotima mean by spirtual procreation 5 Why does Diotima use Homer and Hesiod as examples here What are they examples of How do they relate to her