The Meaning of Eros in Plato's Symposium

The word eros is used within Plato's Symposium but the meaning of word is not always clear. We have seen eros used before by authors such as Homer to mean simply appetite as well as in other texts to represent a strong desire for. In most cases, however, we tend to translate the word to mean "love" in the sense of "in love with" or "to fall in love" as in the sexual desires of another. With this translation, we see the debate of this word in Plato's Symposium.

The debate stems from the translation of this word and the meaning of it in the dialogue. In simple, is this the discussion of love in the natural, human, emotional sense of the word, or is this the discussion of desire and the yearning of for something. When translating the word from Greek, one must keep both "he" and "it" as possibilities when discussing love in terms of eros and therefore, the meaning of the word as well as the text as a whole is up for debate.

My personal feeling, being the optimist that I am, is that this discussion is about true love in the emotional sense and it gives me joy to have insight into love as they knew it in ancient Athens. It is truly a look into the past and from a philosophical standpoint, no matter what way you translate the text and look at the meaning, it is one of Plato's greatest dialogues, if not his best.