The five love speeches

Plato’s Symposium centrally features a series of solilioquies about the nature of love. All five of the men speaking recognize the importance of love, sing its praises, and attempt to relate it to human experiences. However, each of the men takes a unique approach to the definition. In the end, the men all build upon one another’s words do touch on many of the components of love in ancient Greece. The first speech is given by Phaedrus who immediately relates love to a god. He says that love is among the first of the gods and, consequently, not as much is known of his history. However, the god of love can still inspire and be seen in the lover/beloved relationship. Speaking next, Pausanias distinguishes between two types of love: that of Aphrodite and that of Dione. Where Phaedrus only recognized the love from the soul—that of Aphrodite—a bodily love is also present in human beings. Eryximachus speaks third. He talks about the inseparable nature of the two types of love and how they are often applied to the same objects, music for example. Aristophanes carries this concept even further saying that we (humans) are only half of what we were created to be and that love seeks to reunite us with our other halves. Although the love of Aphrodite is more important in this process, both loves are necessary. In this way, Aristophanes expands the definition to include love as an end for mankind. Finally, Agathon builds off of all four of the previous speeches. He says that if love is a bimodal and can serve as an end then it is something we should seek to praise before we think of ourselves. For the man who has mastered love, says Agathon, will be happy. Furthermore, he suggests that all of the other virtues flow from love—that love is the most central virtue.