The snows conspired to keep a group of us getting together on Monday, February 15th to discussion Plato’s Symposium. So, I thought I would put some questions up here on the blog so that it might jog some thought among the students who had read and prepared for that discussion last week. I hope some of them will use this opportunity to think allowed and help us further this discussion which has been going on for, oh, a few thousand years. . .
• How does reading The Symposium better help you understand love and prepare for life?
• It is true, isn’t it, that we tend to forgive lover’s an awful lot? We forgive them more than others, don’t we? “Oh, he is in love . . .”
• Does love drive us toward beauty and away from ugliness? Is it a powerful motivator to right action? Does not wanting to be seen unvirtuous in front of a lover, cause us to act better than we would otherwise? What does this all tell us about being careful of the character of the people we love?
• What do you make about the “levels” of love that is brought forth in the book? Do you buy it? What does our dominant culture think of such things?
• What does Aristophanes’ fascinating history of mankind and love’s place in it tell us about human nature? Do you see any parallels in other ancient stories or our own day? What does it tell us about that old saw of “finding a soul mate?”
• In Socrates’ argument that love is a bridge between God and man, what parallels do we see in world history and why?
• What does all this tell us about true beauty?
• Assuming Socrates might well be a model human being, what character sketch can be made from reading The Symposium?
Have fun and remember to re-read this all every ten years or so. . . You will change and you might need it.
• How does reading The Symposium better help you understand love and prepare for life?
• It is true, isn’t it, that we tend to forgive lover’s an awful lot? We forgive them more than others, don’t we? “Oh, he is in love . . .”
• Does love drive us toward beauty and away from ugliness? Is it a powerful motivator to right action? Does not wanting to be seen unvirtuous in front of a lover, cause us to act better than we would otherwise? What does this all tell us about being careful of the character of the people we love?
• What do you make about the “levels” of love that is brought forth in the book? Do you buy it? What does our dominant culture think of such things?
• What does Aristophanes’ fascinating history of mankind and love’s place in it tell us about human nature? Do you see any parallels in other ancient stories or our own day? What does it tell us about that old saw of “finding a soul mate?”
• In Socrates’ argument that love is a bridge between God and man, what parallels do we see in world history and why?
• What does all this tell us about true beauty?
• Assuming Socrates might well be a model human being, what character sketch can be made from reading The Symposium?
Have fun and remember to re-read this all every ten years or so. . . You will change and you might need it.