plato

Question 1

what were plato’s 4 big ideas

Answer 1

• think more- know yourself
• let your lover change you- make eachother better
• decide the message of beauty
• reform society

Question 2

where was symposium set

Answer 2

a dinner party after Agathan just saw his play win.
it’s a conversation to celebrate Eros and love

Question 3

what does Phaedrus say about love

Answer 3

love makes you better stronger braver especially in war.
love is the path to virtue
he talks about a pederastic relationship

Question 4

what does Pausanias say about love

Answer 4

(Phaedrus’ lover)
first part of love is sexual love desire and passion (for both women and boys, he says women are the most unintelligent people imaginable)
second part is love which blossoms into friendship virtue and knowledge
he draws connection between uranian eros and pederasty

Question 5

what does Eryximachus say

Answer 5

gives a scientific speech (he’s a doctor)

he says love is seen throughout nature and heaven and produces harmony

everything you do is governed by love

Question 6

what does Aristophanes say

Answer 6

male female and androgynous orbs split in two forced to roam the earth looking for missing half

-deep feeling of contentment love creates
-a perfect person for everyone
-search to recover original nature

Question 7

what does agathon say about love

Answer 7

brings speeches to an end and praises the virtues of love
says it’s young

Question 8

what does socrates say about love

Answer 8

learned love from priestess Diotima
-neither ugly nor attractive. neither divine now mortal
-true love is beyond physical desire
-necessary for immortality through procreation
-the search for the beauty you lack

The pursuit of truth and philosophy

Question 9

what does Alcibiades say about love

Answer 9

socrates is the embodiment of love
he says in socrates there is knowledge and virtue
(he describes socrates on the battle field sayinf it would inspire many athenians)
socrates refuses to have relations with him

Question 10

how is socrates describes in Charmides vs Symposium

Answer 10

hot and bothered when glancing under the robe of a young boy vs able to resist Alcibiades

Question 11

what does Pausanias say about voluntary slavery

Answer 11

the only acceptable voluntary slavery js that of a young boy giving sex to an older man in exchange for life lessons and knowledge

Question 12

what does Aristophanes say about love vs desire and lifelong partnership

Answer 12

love better explains lifelong partnership than desire
sex is good for procreation and allows people to relax and focus on other things

Question 13

how does plato describe friendship vs desire vs love

Answer 13

friendship- affection for someone who you have something in common
desire- sexual and physical
love- intense feeling of friendship. then divided up into two: love which allows desire and love that cannot

Question 14

what does Plato’s ‘The Republic’ focus on

Answer 14

the nature of society and how individuals affect it
politics, government and justice

Question 15

what is plato’s sex and food comparison

Answer 15

both are important for society. if you overindulge in food there could be a famine and creates greed which is not contributing to society but stealing from it.

Question 16

what does plato say about irrational desire

Answer 16

we all experience irrational desire in dreams but control it when awake

Question 17

what might plato have thought about sex

Answer 17

it was believed to be good for relaxing which could lead to laziness. he would be against laziness.
it would distract from the pursuit of truth and goodness (philosophy)

controlling desire creates balance and harmony which helps create a good society

Question 18

what is the chariot allegory

Answer 18

chariot : your body
horses : emotions and desires
charioteer : your mind (logic

the horses drive the chariot but if you use your charioteer you keep control of the chariot and can follow the path

Question 19

what does socrates/plato say about incest

Answer 19

it is incorrect desire. it is dangerous to the republic

Question 20

what is going on between Alcibiades and socrates

Answer 20

socrates resists Alcibiades advances which makes him more desirable

Alci would usually be eromenos as he’s younger but is closer to erastes in pursuit of passion and sex not knowledge

Question 21

why is Alcibiades presented the way he is

Answer 21

he led a disastrous sicilian expedition during the peloponnesian war. led by desire for fame etc, in Symposium he is equally led by desire as it was written after the war

Question 22

what does goldhill say about homoerotic relationships

Answer 22

“to describe what greek love is - the desire of men for men, it’s institutions and practices - allows us to explore the more contentious issue of what ‘greek love’ means to us today “

Question 23

is it helpful to look at plato when considering modern views on homosexuality?

Answer 23

• shows homophobia is not part of human nature but a social construct

-anyone can take any section of history to argue their point. you could use plato as for or against it’s not so straight forward

Question 24

Who attempts to justify the sexual gratification that the erastes would receive

Answer 24

Eryximachus and Pausanias

Question 25

what does Diotima think about same sex relationships

Answer 25

suggests it produces ideas and virtues and therefore is stronger than a relationship that merely produces children

Question 26

what does plato say in Phaedrus vs Symposium that is contradicting

Answer 26

friendship should come first
vs
the importance of finding the right partner

Question 27

how do Aristophanes plays present homosexual men

Answer 27

the ‘passive’ men were effeminate
could result in offender being deprived of citizen rights

Question 28

how does plato talk about homosexual relationships in ‘laws’

Answer 28

unnatural, comes from failure to control desires

‘male unites with female for procreation, pleasure experienced is held to be due to nature but contrary to nature when male mates with male or female with female, those first guilty of such enormities were impelled by their slavery to pleasure’

Question 29

what image does Thucydides paint about the peloponnesian war

Answer 29

makes it sound peaceful, a time of site seeing with no opposition or hard fighting.
shows desire and passion run wild - led them to trouble

Question 30

when did plato open up his academy

Answer 30

387bc

Question 31

why does plato draw conflicting conclusions

Answer 31

to allow people to read what they want into his work

Question 32

what moral examples would greeks have from homer

Answer 32

• calypso and circes desire for odysseus
• odysseus and penelope, sex confirms their love (the gods extend night for them) but they also talk about thoughts and feelings
• the deaths of greeks and trojans blamed on achilles
• the destruction that followed helen and paris’ affair