8/9/2019 Summary of Diotimas Speech in the Symposium

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Diotima Part 1 201D-206B

Summary of Diotimas Speech in The

Symposium

Socrates continues his discussion of Love by restating an account given to him by a woman

named Diotima. He claims that he once held the opinions expressed by Agathon and that Diotimaconvinced him he was mistaken through a series of questions similar to those Socrates has ust

asked Agathon. !hus" Socrates picks up where he left off in his dialogue with Agathon" only he

now presents himself as being in Agathon#s position" and presents Diotima as taking his role.

Having been convinced that Love is not beautiful or good" Socrates asks Diotima if that means

Love is ugly and bad. Diotima argues that not everything must be either one thing or its opposite.

$or instance" having unustified true opinions is neither wisdom nor ignorance. %isdom consists

in ustified true opinions" but one would hardly call a true opinion ignorant.

Diotima points out that" in spite of himself" Socrates has denied that Love is a god altogether.

!hey have concluded that Love is not good and beautiful because he is in need of good and

beautiful things. &o one would deny that a god is both happy and beautiful" and yet Love seems

to be neither of these things. !hen" Socrates asks" does that mean that Love is mortal' Diotima

replies once more that not everything must be one thing or its opposite. Love is neither mortal

nor immortal" but is a spirit" which falls somewhere between being a god and being human.

Spirits" Diotima explains" serve as intermediaries between gods and humans. !hey convey

prayers and sacrifices from humans to gods" and send gifts and commands from gods to humans.

!he gods never communicate directly with humans" but only through the medium of spirits" who

are the source of all divination. !here are many kinds of spirits" Love being but one.

Love was conceived at a feast to celebrate the birth of Aphrodite" goddess of love. (esource" the

son of )nvention" got quite drunk and lay down to sleep in the garden of *eus. +overty crept up

on (esource and slept with him" hoping to relieve her lack of resources by having a child with

(esource. Love is the child that +overty conceived by (esource. ,ecause he was conceived on

Aphrodite#s birthday" Love has become her follower" and has become in particular a lover of

beauty. As the child of (esource and +overty" Love is always poor" and" far from being sensitive"

he is very tough" sleeping out of doors on the rough ground. Like his mother" he is always in a

state of need" but like his father" he can scheme to get what he wants. ,eing neither mortal nor

immortal" Love may shoot into life one day only to die the next and then return to life the

following day.

Love is also a great lover of wisdom. &one of the gods love wisdom because they are already

wise and do not need wisdom" nor do the ignorant love wisdom since they do not reali-e that

they need wisdom. Love falls between ignorance and wisdom because his father" (esource" is

both wise and resourceful" while his mother" +overty" is neither. Diotima suggests that Socrates#

earlier grandiose claims about Love#s greatness were directed at the obect of love and not the

8/9/2019 Summary of Diotimas Speech in the Symposium

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Diotima Part 1 201D-206B

lover himself. ,eauty" perfection" and so on" are the qualities of the things we love" but the lover

himself is not at all like this.

&ext" Diotima asks Socrates why Love is love of beautiful things or of good things. Socrates

replies that Love wants these things to become his own so that he will be happy. Diotima has

Socrates agree that everyone always wants good things and happiness to be theirs forever. )n thatcase" everyone would be a lover" but we only call certain people lovers. !he reason is that" while

everyone is in love" we only call a certain class of those in love lovers. !his is similar to the

fact that while everyone who creates composes something" we would only call those who create

music composers.

So while love constitutes a desire for all kinds of good things and happiness" those who are

money/makers" athletes" or philosophers are not normally called lovers. Diotima dismisses the

idea 0that was put forth by Aristophanes1 that lovers are in search of their other half" claiming

instead that lovers love what is good. %e would be willing to have limbs amputated if we

thought they were diseased and bad" suggesting that we only want to be attached to what is good.Socrates and Diotima agree that love is the desire to have the good forever.