The Symposium: A Philosophers Guide To Love

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the god or gods that were love , yet for the purpose of this essay, it
would seem relevant to stick with the guidelines and ideals that were presented
in the speeches given by the men. It seemed as though in each of the lectures
given, Plato put a message into each one. Each man brought up valid guidelines
for dealing with love and each should be concentrated on.

The speeches started with Phaedrus who began to state many of the powers of love.
He spoke about the honor between one and their beloved and how it was a great
virtue in a relationship. The point that Phaedrus made was that a man of any
nature would rather suffer humiliation in front of a great mass of people or all
of mankind itself than to suffer the loss of respect or the loss of dignity in
front of their lover. This point is definitely true yet Phaedrus failed to
make a definite cause as to why this was prevalent. It may pertain to modern
society that to suffer indignation in front of a lover ...

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behind the sacrifice of
one's self for another from the woman who teaches Socrates the meaning of love.
We are once again faced with the idea of respect as one of the driving forces in
love. The woman proposes that the main motive behind the sacrifice may be that
it is a way to gain immortality. By dying for another they would be considered a
hero.. This may have been a valid reasoning during Plato's era because virtue
and honor were seen as great characteristics of men. People were judged daily
on these credentials and thus it is important in that era. Yet today our values
of honor have changed. Honor is still a superior quality, yet the degree to
which someone will go to gain the ...

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