Price, Anthony W. (2017) Generating in beauty for the sake of immortality: personal love and the goals of the lover. In: Destree, P. and Giannopoulou, Z. (eds.) Plato's Symposium: A Critical Guide. Cambridge Critical Guides. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 176-193. ISBN 9781107110052.
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Abstract
This paper discusses two debated questions about how best to interpret the contribution to the Symposium that Socrates pretends to derive from Diotima: (i) Within the Lesser Mysteries, is the erōs that is being defined and characterized, with appeal to the notion of “generation in beauty”, a generic erōs that is equivalent to Socratic desire in general, or a specific erōs that is erotic in our sense? (ii) Within the Greater Mysteries, is interpersonal erōs maintained, or supplanted? I find that neither answer to (i) unproblematic, but argue that either can be reconciled with the text, and suggest that both leave open the really interesting questions. I then, in answer to (ii), concede that there are radical shifts of focus, but conclude that it is most likely that interpersonal erōs has a continuing role in, eventually, making the lover worthy of “becoming dear to the gods and, if any man can, immortal himself also” (212a6-7). Here I appeal especially to the phrase “ungrudging philosophy” (210d6), taking it to signify an activity that is not kept to oneself, but shared with another (or others).
Metadata
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University Press |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies |
| Depositing User: | Professor A. W. Price |
| Date Deposited: | 19 May 2017 08:43 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Aug 2025 03:45 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/13788 |
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