Apollodorus and his friend

In my opinion, I am sufficiently prepared for your questions. The other day, when I was walking into the city from home, from Faler, one of my acquaintances saw me from behind and jokingly called from a distance.

- Hey, - he shouted, - Apollodorus, Phaler inhabitant, wait a minute!

I stopped and waited.

“Apollodorus,” he said, “and I was just looking for you in order to ask Agathon about that feast, where Socrates, Alcibiades and others were, and to find out what kind of speeches there were about love. One person told me about them from the words of Phoenix, Philip's son, and said that you also know all this. But he himself could not really tell anything, and therefore tell me about all this you - after all, it is more fitting for you to convey the speeches of your friend. But first tell me whether you yourself were present at this conversation or not?

And I answered him:

“Apparently, the one who told you really didn’t really tell you anything if you think that the conversation you are asking about happened recently, so I could be there.

“Yes, that's exactly what I thought,” he answered.

- What are you, Glavkon? I exclaimed. “Don’t you know that Agathon hasn’t lived here for many years?” And since I began to spend time with Socrates and made it a rule to note every day everything that he says and does, not even three years have passed. Until then, I wandered wherever I have to, imagining that I was doing something worthwhile, but I was pathetic, like any of you - for example, as you are now, if you think that it is better to do anything but philosophy.

“Rather than laughing at us,” he replied, “better tell me when this conversation took place.

“In the days of our childhood,” I answered, “when Agathon received an award for his first tragedy, the day after he celebrated this victory with a sacrifice together with the Chorevians.

- For a long time, it turns out, there was a case. Who told you about this, wasn't Socrates himself?

- No, not Socrates, but the same one as for Phoenix - a certain Aristodemus from Kidafin, a little one, always barefoot; he was present at this conversation because he was then, it seems, one of the most ardent admirers of Socrates. However, I also asked Socrates himself about something, and he confirmed his story to me.

So we talked about this along the way: that's why I feel, as I said at the beginning, quite prepared. And if you want me to tell all this to you, let it be your way. After all, I am always immensely glad to have the opportunity to lead or listen to philosophical speeches, not to mention the fact that I hope to derive some benefit from them; but when I hear other speeches, especially your usual speeches of the rich and businessmen, melancholy attacks me, and I feel sorry for you, my friends, because you think that you are doing business, and you yourself are only wasting your time. You, however, perhaps consider me unhappy, and I admit that you are right; but that you are unhappy is not something that I admit, but I know for sure.

- You are always the same, Apollodorus: always you revile yourself and others and, it seems, absolutely everyone, except Socrates, you consider deserving of regret, and already yourself - in the first place. For what they called you demoniac, I don't know, but in your speeches you really are always like this: you attack yourself and the whole world, except Socrates.

- Well, how can I not rave, my dear, how can I not lose my temper, if this is my opinion about myself and about you.

“There’s no need to argue over this now, Apollodorus. Better fulfill our request and tell us what speeches were made there.

- They were about this kind ... But I will try, perhaps, to tell you everything in order, just as Aristodemus himself told me.

So, he met Socrates - washed and in sandals, which rarely happened, and asked him where he was dressed like that. He replied:

- For dinner at Agathon's. Yesterday I fled from the victorious celebration, frightened by the crowded gathering, but promised to come today. So I dressed up to appear to the handsome handsome. Well, you, - he concluded, - would you like to go to the feast without an invitation?

And he answered him:

- As you command!

- In that case, - Socrates said, - let us go together and, to change the saying, we will prove that “a worthy person comes to people worthy for a feast without a call”. But Homer did not just distort this saying, but, one might say, outraged it. Having portrayed Agamemnon as an unusually valiant warrior, and Menelaus as a "weak spearman", he forced the less worthy Menelaus to appear without an invitation to the more worthy Agamemnon, when he offered a sacrifice and gave a feast.

After hearing this, Aristodemus said:

- I am afraid that it will come out not in my opinion, Socrates, but rather according to Homer, if I, an ordinary person, come without an invitation to a feast to a sage. Can you somehow justify yourself by bringing me in? After all, I do not admit that I was uninvited, but I will say that you invited me.

- "The path making together," - he objected, - we will discuss what to say to us. Let's go!

Having exchanged such words approximately, they hit the road. Socrates, indulging in his thoughts, lagged all the way, and when Aristodemus stopped to wait for him, ordered him to go ahead. Aristodemus came to the house of Agathon, found the door open, and then, according to him, something funny happened. A slave immediately ran out to him and took him to where the guests were already reclining ready to start supper. As soon as Agathon saw the newcomer, he greeted him with these words:

- Ah, Aristodemus, you came by the way - just dine with us. If you are on some business, then postpone it until another time. After all, yesterday I was already looking for you to invite, but I could not find you anywhere. But why didn't you bring Socrates to us?

- And I, - continued Aristodemus, - turned around, but Socrates, I see, does not follow; I had to explain that I myself came with Socrates, who invited me here to dine.

- And he did well to come, - replied the owner, - but where is he?

- He just came here after me, I myself can not understand where he went.

- Well, - said Agathon to the servant, - look for Socrates and bring him here. And you, Aristodemus, settle down next to Eriksimachus!

And the slave washed his feet so that he could lie down; while the other slave returned and reported: Socrates, they say, turned back and now stands in the entryway of the neighboring house, but refuses to go to the call.

“What nonsense are you talking about,” said Agathon, “call him more persistently!

But then Aristodemus intervened.

“No need,” he said. “Leave him alone. Such is his habit - he will go somewhere to the side and stand there. I think he will come soon, you just don’t need to touch him.

“Well, let it be your way,” said Agathon. - And all of us, you servants, please treat us! Give us whatever you want, because I have never put any overseers over you. Consider that I and everyone else are invited by you to dinner, and please us so that we can not praise you.

Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 3

1. The philosophy of Plato in his works ………………………………. 4

2. Dialogue "Feast" - as a statement of the basic ideas of the Platonic philosophical concept ……………………………………………………………… .6

3. The theme of love attraction (eros) in the philosophy of Plato ……………… 10

4. Eidotic concept ………………………………………………. thirteen

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………… 15

References ………………………………………………………… .. 16

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Introduction

Plato is considered one of the greatest representatives of ancient philosophy. He combined in his teaching the ideas of his two great predecessors: Pythagoras and Socrates. From the Pythagoreans, he adopted the art of mathematics and the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a philosophical school, which he embodied in his Academy in Athens. From Socrates, Plato learned doubt, irony and the art of conversation.

Plato's dialogues awaken interest and teach reflection on the very serious problems of life, which have not changed much in two and a half thousand years.

Feast (ancient Greek Συμπόσιον) is Plato's dialogue dedicated to the problem of love. The name comes from the place where the dialogue took place, namely at a dinner at Agathon, where the playwright Agathon himself, the philosopher Socrates, the politician Alcibiades and others (Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eriksimachus) were present.

1. Philosophy of Plato in his works

Almost all of Plato's works are written in the form of dialogues (most of the conversation is led by Socrates), the language and composition of which are distinguished by high artistic merit. The following dialogues belong to the early period (approximately 90s of the 4th century BC): "Apology of Socrates", "Crito", "Euthyphron", "Lazet", "Fox", "Charmides", "Protagoras" , 1st book "States" (Socratic method of analysis of individual concepts, the predominance of moral issues); to the transitional period (80s) - "Gorgias", "Menon", "Euthydemus", "Cratylus", "Hippias the Lesser" and others (the birth of the doctrine of ideas, criticism of the relativism of the sophists); to the mature period (70-60s) - "Phaedo", "Feast", "Phaedrus", II - X books "States" (doctrine of ideas), "Teetetus", "Parmenides", "Sophist", "Politician", "Fileb", "Timaeus" and "Critias" (interest in problems of a constructive-logical nature, theory of knowledge, dialectics of categories and space, etc.); to the later period - "Laws" (50s).

The philosophy of Plato is not presented systematically in his works, which seem to the modern researcher rather as an extensive laboratory of thought; Plato's system has to be reconstructed. Its most important part is the doctrine of three basic ontological substances (triad): "one", "mind" and "soul"; the doctrine of "space" is adjacent to it. The basis of all being is, according to Plato, the "one", which in itself is devoid of any signs, has no parts, that is, neither beginning nor end, does not occupy any space, cannot move, since for movement change is necessary, that is, multiplicity; signs of identity, difference, similarity, etc. are inapplicable to it. Nothing can be said about it at all, it is above all being, sensation and thinking. This source conceals not only the “ideas” or “eidos” of things (ie, their substantial spiritual prototypes and principles, to which Plato attributes timeless reality), but also things themselves, their becoming.

The second substance - "mind" (nous) is, according to Plato, the existential-light product of the "one" - "good". The mind is of a pure and unmixed nature; Plato carefully delimits it from everything material, material, and becoming: “mind” is intuitive and its subject has the essence of things, but not their becoming. Finally, the dialectical concept of "mind" ends with a cosmological concept. "Mind" is a mental generic generalization of all living beings, a living being, or life itself, given in the utmost generalization, orderliness, perfection and beauty. This "mind" is embodied in "space", namely in the correct and eternal movement of the sky.

The third substance - "world soul" - unites Plato's "mind" and the corporeal world. Receiving from the “mind” the laws of its motion, the “soul” differs from it by its eternal mobility; it is the principle of self-movement. The "mind" is incorporeal and immortal; “Soul” unites it with the bodily world with something beautiful, proportional and harmonious, being itself immortal, as well as participating in truth and eternal ideas. The individual soul is the image and outflow of the "world soul". Plato spoke of immortality, or rather, of the eternal emergence of the body along with the "soul". The death of the body is its transition to another state.

2. Dialogue "Feast" - as a statement of the basic ideas of the Platonic philosophical concept.

According to traditional data, "Feast" was written no earlier than the mid-70s and no later than the 60s of the 4th century. BC, according to the modern interpretation, this date belongs to the mid-80s, i.e. its creation falls just on the Platonic Acme. The Feast is a fundamental text of the classical philosophical tradition and a typical work in Plato's author's frame of reference. Thus, the logical composition "Feast" is organized as a reproduction of the discussion of the sages regarding the identification of the essence of a certain, specially selected phenomenon - in this case, love acts as such (specifically, the personified Eros of the ancient Greek pantheon). Structurally, the dialogue includes:

I) plot-compositional introduction: description of the conversation between Apollodorus and Glaucon about the feast in the house of Agathon, which was attended by Aristodemus of Kidafia, a friend of Apollodorus; the consent of the latter to reproduce the story of Aristodemus about what was happening at this feast, chief among which was the uttering of all those present, at the suggestion of Pausanias, of "commendable speeches" to Eros.

Thus, "Feast" can be attributed to "symposia" (from the Greek symposion - "drinking together", which meant that stage of the feast, when guests passed from eating food to intellectual or entertaining conversation around the crater with wine) - "table conversations "As a literary genre, and in this respect, the traditional translations of its original name" Symposion "(Russian" Feast ", French" Bunquet ", etc. - in contrast to the Latin" convivium ") do not accurately convey the ideas of its design;

1) speech of Phaedrus: the most ancient origin of Eros ("who loves the divine beloved, because he is inspired by God");

2) speech of Pausanias: two Eros ("as soon as there are two Aphrodites, then there must be two Erotes ... It follows that ... Erots accompanying both Aphrodites should be called, respectively, heavenly and vulgar"), - this postulate of Plato had an indelible influence on the history of the interpretation of love in the European cultural tradition, largely defining not only the conceptual and meaningful vectors of its evolution, but also many of its problematic nodes, including phobias and complexes typical of the European mentality;

3) the speech of Eriksimachus: Eros is diffused in all nature (“Eros ... lives not only in the human soul and not only in its striving for beautiful people, but also in many of its other impulses, and indeed in many other things in the world - in bodies of any animals, in plants, in everything, one might say, that exists, for he is a great, amazing and all-encompassing God, involved in all the affairs of people and gods "), - the ideas of this fragment of the" Feast "served as the most important prerequisite for the formation of emanational concepts of the Neoplatonists and the mystical tradition of Christianity;

4) speech of Aristophanes: Eros as a person's striving for the original integrity [“once our nature was not the same as it is now ... People were of three sexes, and not two, as now - male and female, for there was still a third sex, which combined the signs of both of these; he himself disappeared and from him only the name that became abusive - androgynes - remained, and it is clear from him that they combined the appearance and the name of both sexes - male and female. Terrible in their strength and power, they nourished great designs and even encroached on the power of the gods ... And so Zeus and other gods began to consult on how to deal with them ... Finally Zeus ... began to cut people in half, as they cut rowan berries before salting ... since then, people have a love attraction for each other, which, uniting the previous halves, tries to make one of the two and thereby heal human nature. So, each of us is a half of a man, cut into two flounder-like parts, and therefore each is always looking for a corresponding half. Thus, love is called the thirst for integrity and the striving for it ... "- this legend, proposed by Plato, left a deep imprint on the artistic tradition of the West, exposing love to various romantic interpretations throughout history: from the medieval story of Tristan and Isolde and the courtesy lyrics of the troubadours to Tatiana's letter to Onegin from Pushkin];

5) Agathon's speech: the perfection of Eros ("Eros, who at first was himself the most beautiful and most perfect God, later became the source of these qualities for others");

6) the speech of Socrates: the goal of Eros is the mastery of the good (“... Love is always love for the good. All people are pregnant both physically and spiritually, and when they reach a certain age, our nature requires permission from the burden. But it can be resolved. only in the beautiful, but not in the ugly. Love is the desire to give birth and give birth to the light in the beautiful. This is the way to go in love - ... from one beautiful body to two, from two to all, and then from beautiful bodies to beautiful morals , but from beautiful morals to beautiful teachings, until you rise from these teachings to the one that is the teaching about the most beautiful, and you finally know what it is - beautiful ”); - this "speech" represents the author's position of Plato (the presentation of which, as is typical for Plato's dialogues in general, is put into the mouth of Socrates), - a position that largely determined: in the frame of reference of the philosophical tradition - not only the Platonic interpretation of the good, but also the European idealism in general; in the frame of reference of the Western type of mentality - not only the history of philosophical interpretations of love, but also the evolution of ideas about love in general, which left a significant imprint on the specifics of the Western type of mentality, including its characteristic romantic ideals (which certainly conjugate love with the "highest good" ), and a kind of transcendentalization of love, and even stereotypes of erotic behavior;

7) Alquiad's speech: a panegyric to Socrates ("he looks like those Silenos ... whom the artists depict with some kind of pipe or flute in their hands. If you open such a Silena, then he has statues of gods inside ...");

III) a compositional conclusion, summing up the plot result of the story about the feast in the house of Agathon.

3. The theme of love attraction (eros) in the philosophy of Plato

Eros is the companion and servant of Aphrodite: after all, he was conceived at the feast of the birth of this goddess; besides, he by his very nature loves the beautiful; because Aphrodite is beautiful. Since he is the son of Poros (wealth, abundance) and Singing (poverty, need), the situation with him is as follows: first of all, he is always poor and, contrary to popular belief, is not at all handsome or gentle, but rude, unkempt, not shod and homelessness; he is lying on the bare ground, under the open sky, at the doors, in the streets and, like a true son of his mother, does not go out of need. But on the other hand, as a father, he is drawn to the beautiful and perfect, he is brave, bold and strong, he is a skillful catcher, constantly intriguing, he longs for rationality and achieves it, he is busy with philosophy all his life, he is a skillful sorcerer, sorcerer and sophist ... By nature, he is neither immortal nor mortal: on the same day he sometimes lives and flourishes, if his deeds are good, then he dies, but, having inherited the nature of his father, he comes to life again. Everything that he does not gain goes to dust, which is why Eros is never rich or poor.

He is also midway between wisdom and ignorance, and here's why. Of the gods, no one is engaged in philosophy and does not want to become wise, since the gods are already wise; and indeed, one who is wise does not strive for wisdom. But they do not engage in philosophy and do not want to become wise, again and ignorant. After all, this is what is bad about ignorance, that a person is not beautiful, and not perfect, and not smart, is completely satisfied with himself. And whoever does not think that he needs something, he does not want what, in his opinion, does not feel the need.

The theme of love attraction (eros) plays an essential role in the teachings of Plato. Plato comes out with the exposure of bodily love, which significantly narrows the horizons and seeks, firstly, only for pleasure, and secondly, leads to a possessive attitude in relations, essentially wanting to enslave, not make free. Meanwhile, freedom is an unconditional good that can be given in human relations by love, and in human knowledge of the world - by philosophy, and one can hardly be separated from the other. Love helps to quickly go through the first steps on the philosophical path: here we experience the very surprise (it is the beginning of philosophy) that makes us stop and recognize in some person, one of many, unique and unique; it helps to find out why a deep feeling and personal experience cannot be expressed in words, or, in any case, in ordinary words; she teaches what it means to strive for a favorite subject, thinking only about it and considering it the most important, forgetting about everything else. These lessons of sensual love in any case help to better understand the philosophical metaphors of Plato, associated with true knowledge, striving, focusing on the main thing and detachment from the unimportant.

In Plato's dialogue "The Feast", the myth of the birth of love is retelling, in which, like in the modern psychoanalytic doctrine of love, themes of loss, passionate attraction and gaining the lost prevail. In "The Feast" the complete absence of any mention of women as objects or subjects of eros, as well as of carnal love, is striking. If in the days of Homer and the great Greek tragedians a woman possessed considerable power and influence, took part in public life, then in the era of Plato her role was significantly reduced. Women from the upper strata of society were married off in order to bear children and run a household. Women did not receive education and did not participate in public life. Wives were not seen as lovable objects. The ideal love couple of that time consisted of an elderly, but not old man and a boy who received as much emotion, care and attention as in other historical times fell to the lot of the object of heterogeneous love. Love between men occupies a significant place in the Platonic ladder of love, along which, as he believes, it is possible to climb only through the sublimation of homosexual drives. Without condemning the physical side of love so much, at least in "The Feast", he undoubtedly preferred its sublimated version.

It is possible that the absence of mention of women in the treatise on love is explained by the intellectual revolution that took place in ancient times. This revolution consisted of consistent attempts to replace mythological ways of perceiving and explaining the world with analytical thinking, which was considered an exclusively masculine quality. It was a historic moment when reason rebelled against emotion, and culture against nature. The superiority of spiritual creativity over physical (procreation) was based on independence from nature and from women.

What is love? How does it differ from eros, from prayer ecstasy? Eros is a sacrament. Perhaps this is the greatest, unstoppable passion, a vague yearning for unity, the mysterious aspiration of people doomed to death for some kind of eternal life?

In the ancient cosmogonies, Eros is a primordial elemental powerful passion that sets in motion the mechanism for creating the world. The image of the life-giving nature, the eternal queen of being, was, say, an indispensable component of the mystical cults of the beginning of time. Her worship manifested itself in various forms, sometimes ascetic, sometimes violent, orgiastic.

4. Eidotic concept

Eidos (ancient Greek - view, appearance, image), a term of ancient philosophy and literature, originally denoting "visible", "what is seen", but gradually acquired a deeper meaning - "concrete manifestation of the abstract", "material given in thinking "; in a general sense, a way of organizing and / or being an object. In medieval and modern philosophy, a categorical structure that interprets the original semantics of a concept.

If pre-Socratic natural philosophy understands by eidos the actual formulation of a thing [sensually perceived], in Plato the content of the concept is substantially transformed. First of all, eidos is now understood not as an external, but as an internal form, that is, an immanent way of being a thing. In addition, eidos is now acquiring an ontologically independent status, forming the transcendental world of ideas (that is, the actual world of eidos) as a set of absolute and perfect samples of possible things.

The perfection of eidos is indicated by Plato through the semantic figure of the immobility of his essence, which was initially equal to itself. The way of being of eidos, in this case, is its incarnation and embodiment in multiple things in accordance with its functional structure as a model, as a kind and as an image itself.

In this context, the interaction between the object and the subject in the process of cognition is interpreted by Plato as communication between the object's eidos and the subject's soul, which results in the imprint of eidos in the human soul. Eidos, according to Plato, is what the comprehending ability of a person is actually aimed at. Eidos is something genuine that is given in the understanding, in abstraction from our opinion about a thing and from sensory impressions that reflect only the material existence of a thing. Unlike the idea, eidos no longer generalizes, but, on the contrary, distinguishes and distinguishes a thing from other things.

By the time the "Feast" was created, the idea of \u200b\u200beidos as such had already been put forward by Plato in the dialogue "Phaedo", laying the foundation for philosophical idealism in its classical understanding. In the context of the "Feast", this idea is significantly enriched by the interpretation of eidos as the limit of the existence of a thing, and the latter is understood in this case precisely as a procedural striving for eidos. In addition, the "Feast" can be considered as the first historical and philosophical precedent for the completeness and correctness of the formulation of the question of the relationship between the general and the individual, without which such phenomena of the European historical and philosophical tradition as Hegel's dialectics and the dialogue of nomothetical and idiographic paradigms in philosophy of history.

In late Neoplatonism, such an "apperceptual" understanding of eidos disappears and becomes a "symphony of gods", each of which is the bearer of self-consciousness as one of the moments of their own nature. Eidos turns into a moment of eidetic being in the strict Platonic sense of the term, that is, eidos is the result-subject of mental comprehension, knowledge itself. Eidos are parts of being, which, in essence, remained inseparable from the whole, but in life began to separate and emanate, emanate. In this sense, eidos is the result, the "statue" of the life process. It does not yet exist as something in itself, that is, as limited in being (and such is the existence of bodies and mortals). The whole for him is Nus. However, it is the result of distinction and division, being no longer whole, but special.

Conclusion

"The Feast" is that dialogue of Plato, where this idea is expressed, in particular, - the most famous composition about love in the history of philosophy. However, to say "famous" here is to say almost nothing. Over the twenty-five centuries that have passed since the advent of the "Pir", many hundreds of thinkers, philosophers and artists of the word have been in continuous conversation with the author of the dialogue and with his heroes, developing and challenging their judgments. The very names of some of these heroes have acquired the meaning of symbols.

An essential role in the teachings of Plato is played by the theme of love attraction. In Plato's aesthetics, beauty is understood as the absolute interpenetration of body, soul and mind, the fusion of idea and matter, rationality and pleasure, and the principle of this fusion is measure. Cognition is not separated by Plato from love, but love from beauty. Everything is beautiful, thus. visibly and audibly, externally and physically, it is animated by its inner life and contains one or another meaning.

Wisdom is one of the most beautiful blessings in the world, and Eros is love for the beautiful, therefore Eros cannot but be a philosopher, that is, a lover of wisdom, and a philosopher occupies an intermediate position between a sage and an ignoramus.

Already in antiquity, dozens of commentaries appeared on the "Feast", all of its new and new interpretations. To this work, philosophical thought again and again returns to the Middle Ages, and during the Enlightenment, and in the last centuries.

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Apollodorus and his friend

Apollodorus, at the request of a friend, when meeting him, talks about the feast at Agathon, where Socrates, Alcibiades and others were and speeches about love were made. It was a long time ago, Apollodorus himself was not present there, but learned about the conversations of those from Aristodemus.

On that day, Aristodemus met Socrates, who invited him to dinner with Agathon. Socrates fell behind and came to visit later. After dinner, those present reclined and took turns saying a word of praise to the god Eros.

Speech of Phaedrus: The Earliest Origins of Eros

Phaedrus calls Eros the oldest god,

He is the primary source of the greatest blessings. There is no "greater good for a young man than a worthy lover, and for a lover - than a worthy lover." The lover is ready for any feats for the sake of his beloved, even to die for him. But it is the devotion of the beloved to the lover that especially delights the gods, for which the beloved are honored with greater honor. As an example, Phaedrus cites Achilles' revenge for the murder of his admirer Partocles.

After all, the lover is more divine than the beloved, because he is inspired by God.

It is the powerful god of love, Eros, who is able to "endow people with valor and bestow bliss on them."

Pausanias' speech:

Two Eros

There are two Eros: vulgar and heavenly. Eros vulgar gives love to people insignificant, heavenly love is, first of all, love for young men, for a creature more intelligent and sublime than a woman. Such love is a concern for moral improvement:

Low is that vulgar admirer who loves the body more than the soul ... One has only to bloom the body, as it "flies away" ... And whoever loves for high moral dignity, he remains faithful all his life ...

It is commendable if the beloved young man accepts the courtship of the admirer and learns from that wisdom. But the feelings of both should be absolutely sincere, there is no place for self-interest in them.

Eriksimachus Speech: Eros is Spilled Throughout Nature

The dual nature of Eros is manifested in all that exists. Moderate Eros and unbridled Eros must be in harmony with each other:

After all, the healthy and the diseased beginnings of the body ... are different and dissimilar, and the dissimilar strives for the dissimilar and loves it. Consequently, a healthy beginning has one Eros, a sick one - another.

It is necessary and beautiful to please the moderate god and to honor him; it is necessary to resort to the vulgar Eros carefully, so that he does not give rise to intemperance. Fortune telling and sacrifices help to establish friendly relations between people and the gods.

Aristophanes' Speech: Eros as Man's Striving for Primordial Integrity

Aristophanes tells the myth of androgynes - ancient people, consisting of two halves: two modern people. Androgynes were very strong, for the decision to attack the gods Zeus cut them in half.

... when the bodies were cut in half, each half lustfully rushed to the other, they hugged, intertwined and, eagerly wanting to grow together, did not want to do anything separately.

Since then, the androgynous halves have been looking for each other, wanting to merge together. Through the union of man and woman, the human race continues. When a man converges with a man, the satisfaction from intercourse is achieved. The quest for integrity is the quest to heal human nature.

Men, descended from the former man and who are attracted to each other, Aristophanes calls the most worthy: they are by nature the most courageous.

Thus, love is called the thirst for integrity and the pursuit of it. Before ... we were something one, and now, because of our injustice, we are separated by God ...

Agathon's Speech: Eros Perfections

Eros is the most perfect god. He is the bearer of the best qualities: beauty, courage, discretion, mastery in arts and crafts. Even the gods can regard Eros as their teacher.

Socrates humbly notes that he is in a quandary after Agathon's so beautiful speech. He begins his speech with a dialogue with Agathon, asking him questions.

Socrates' speech: Eros's goal is the mastery of the good

Eros is always love for someone or for something, the object of this love is what you need. If Eros needs beauty, and goodness is beautiful, then he also needs goodness.

Socrates described Eros as if based on the story of a Mantinean woman, Diotima. Eros is not beautiful, but not ugly, not kind, but not evil, which means that he is in the middle between all the extremes. But since he is neither beautiful nor kind, he cannot be called a god. According to Diotima, Eros is not a god or a man, he is a genius.

The purpose of geniuses is to be interpreters and mediators between people and gods, transferring to the gods prayers and sacrifices of people, and to people the orders of the gods and rewards for sacrifices.

Eros is the son of Poros and the poor Singing, therefore he personifies the middle between his parents: he is poor, but “like a father, he is drawn to the beautiful and perfect”. Eros is brave, brave and strong, longs for rationality and achieves it, he is busy with philosophy.

Eros is love for beauty. If beauty is good, then everyone wants it to be his lot. All people are pregnant, both physically and spiritually. Nature can be relieved of the burden only in the beautiful.

Intercourse between a man and a woman is such a permit. And this is a divine matter, for conception and birth are the essence of the manifestation of the immortal principle in a mortal being ... which means that love is a striving for immortality.

Caring for offspring is a striving for the eternal, in eternity one can achieve beauty - good.

A drunken Alcibiades appears. He is offered to say his word about Eros, but he refuses: he recognizes the speech of Socrates that had been heard before this as logically indisputable. Then Alcibiades is asked to praise Socrates.

Alcibiades' speech: a panegyric to Socrates

Alcibiades compares Socrates' speech to the playing of the satyr Marsyas on the flute, but Socrates is a satyr without instruments.

When I listen to him, my heart beats much stronger than that of the raging Koribants, and tears flow from my eyes from his words; the same thing, as I see it, is happening with many others.

Alcibiades admires Socrates. The young man hoped to draw on his wisdom and wanted to seduce the philosopher with his beauty, but the beauty did not produce the desired effect. Alcibiades was subdued by the spirit of Socrates. In joint campaigns with a fan, the philosopher showed his best qualities: courage, fortitude, endurance. He even saved the life of Alcibiades and refused the award in his favor. Socrates has a unique personality compared to everyone else.

Final scene

Socrates warns Agathon against the speeches of Alcibiades: Alcibiades wants to sow discord between Agathon and the philosopher. Then Agathon lies down closer to Socrates. Alcibiades asks Agathon to lie at least between him and Socrates. But the philosopher replied that if Agathon lay down below Alcibiades, then he, Socrates, would not be able to give praise to his neighbor on the right, that is, Agathon. Then noisy revelers appeared, someone went home. Aristodemus fell asleep, and waking up, he saw Socrates, Aristophanes and Agathon talking. Soon Alcibiades left after Socrates.

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The amazing wanderings of its protagonist are set forth through his own story at a feast with the king of the Faeak people, Alcinoy (Odysseus, IX - XII). The description of the feast in the elegy of the philosopher and poet Xenophanes also became textbook (Pushkin's free translation - “The floor is clean…”).

After a plentiful meal at the feast, the guests turned to wine. Hence the Greek term for the word "feast" - symposion - συμπόσιον - "drinking together." The name of Plato's "Feast" and sounds in Greek: "symposium". For a cup of wine, the conversations of Hellenic intellectuals often turned to philosophical, ethical and aesthetic topics. A philosophical dialogue of the same name "The Feast" was also written by the famous contemporary and friend of Plato, Xenophon.

The main theme of Plato's "Feast" is a discussion of goodness and love. According to a number of testimonies, in ancient times this dialogue also had the corresponding subtitles: "On the Good" or "Speeches about Love."

The great Greek philosopher Plato

Despite Socrates' comical appearance, his speech is divine. In them you can find the answer to all the questions that concern those who want to achieve the highest nobility.

Socrates' personal behavior is impeccable. Alcibiades, who took part with him in the military campaign, was amazed by the philosopher's unprecedented physical endurance and his heroism. In battle, Socrates saved the life of Alcibiades and then modestly refused the reward relying for this.

Socrates snatches Alcibiades from the embrace of the hetera Aspasia. Artist J. B. Regnault, 1785

Appolodor meets with his friend and he asks him to tell about the feast that took place in the poet's house. This feast was already a very long time ago, about 15 years ago. Conversations were conducted on it about the god Eros and about love. Neither one nor the other were there themselves, but Appolodor heard about these conversations from another friend of his.

The owner of the house where the feast took place is the poet Agathon. Socrates and many others were invited there. There was talk about Eros.

Phaedrus was the first to speak. In his speech, he called Eros the oldest of the gods and the source of all pleasures and benefits. He says that the feeling he gives to people makes them noble, capable of anything. And in support of his words, he speaks of Achilles' revenge for the murder of his friend.

Further, the baton of the word passes to Pausvnia. He divides love into two of its manifestations: divine and base. And, in accordance with this, it says that there are two Eros. One gives people a vulgar feeling, and the other - high and dignified. This is love for a young man. A man is taller and better than a woman. And the feeling for him is nobility, given not for the sake of bodily pleasure, but for the sake of the soul and reason. And it makes a person wise and perfect.

Eriksimachus is a doctor. He agrees with the division of the senses and the god himself. He says that this is true and should be taken into account everywhere: both in healing and in poetry. After all, Eros lives everywhere. It is found both in the human soul and in nature. And maintaining the balance of two Erots, two principles of man, is the essence of his entire existence. And all the acts performed by a person during his life are nothing more than his union with the gods.

The speech goes to the comedian Aristophanes. He invented the myth of the first people. According to him, they were both female and male. They represented a danger to the gods, as they were quite strong. So they split them in half. Since then, the feminine principle and the masculine one have existed separately. And the memory of that in the subconscious remained, hence the craving for the opposite.

Then the speech goes to the owner himself. He praises the god of love. Calls him the personification of justice and all the other best qualities. All this was said in a poetic fervor. The guests are delighted with the pathos and approve of his words.

They were also approved by Socrates. But, this is only an appearance. He, skillfully conducting a conversation, makes Agathon abandon what he just said. And then he draws before everyone Eros, constantly striving for the good and fullness of being, since he does not have this. He calls him not a god, but a connecting link between the human world and the divine.

And then he says that having fallen in love with the body - the outer shell, a person, over time, begins to love the soul more and more. And this gives rise to the desire for improvement in him. And then he begins to strive for knowledge and the development of his most important dignity - reason.

Then Alcibiades bursts into the house. After learning briefly about what was at stake, he fully agreed with Socrates. And since he had nothing more to add about Eros, he makes a speech in his honor. Through his lips Plato draws the image of a genius striving for self-improvement and development.

The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe dialogue lies in the Socratic speeches: the feeling of love prompts a person to strive for the highest, improving it.

Picture or drawing Plato - Feast

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