Dialogue of Plato "Feast": a summary. "Feast" of Plato: analysis

In the article we will consider the dialogue "Feast", we will present its brief content. "Feast" of Plato refers to the genre of symposia (drinking conversations). Rudiments of this genre are found in the literature of ancient Greece long before the birth of this philosopher. During the Trojan War, for example, the heroes of Homer eat, drink and lead "a mutual conversation," as described in the "Illyada." And in the Odyssey of the journey of the protagonist the works are represented with the help of his own story about them at a feast at Alkinoi, the king of the phoenicians. The description of the feast made by Xenophanes, a poet and philosopher, in his elegy, became also a textbook.

The meaning of the name of the dialogue

Guests after a plentiful meal turned to wine. That is why the word "symposia" used to refer to the word "feast" is translated as "shared drink". In Greek, the name of "Feast" of Plato also sounds like "Symposium". Conversations of Hellenic intellectuals over a cup of wine often turned to aesthetic, ethical and philosophical themes. The eponymous "Feast", a philosophical dialogue, was also created by Xenophon, the famous contemporary of Plato and his friend.

The main theme and idea

What is the author's idea? Briefly analyze the work before submitting its brief content. "Feast" of Plato - a dialogue, the main theme of which - the arguments about love and good. According to a number of evidences, in ancient times he had subheadings of "Speech about love", "About the good", etc. It is impossible to say exactly when this work was created. It is believed that the most probable date of his dating is 379 BC. E.

Plato's philosophy, long before the creation of this dialogue, advanced the doctrine of ideas. Plato was quite easy to explain what the essence of material things is. It was much more difficult to formulate the idea of the human soul. The book "Feast" (Plato), the brief content of which we are interested in, is just devoted to clarifying this issue. The philosopher believes that the idea of the soul of man - in the eternal pursuit of good and beauty, in the love of them. Concluding the analysis of the Platonic dialogue "Feast", we note that it consists of a short introduction and conclusion, as well as seven speeches of participants in the feast, with the help of which the main idea is revealed.

Introduction

Plato in the introduction to his dialogue describes the meeting of Apollodorus with the Chief Physician. The latter asks Apollodorus to talk about the feast, which was given about 15 years ago in the house of the poet Agathon. At this feast, there was talk of love. Apollodorus says that he himself did not participate in it, but he can convey the dialogues that were being conducted there, from the words of Aristodem, one of the participants.

Further, Apollodorus tells of how Aristodem accidentally met with Socrates in the street. The philosopher went to dinner with Agathon and decided to invite him with him. Pausanias, one of those present at the feast, after his beginning, invited the participants to make a speech in honor of the god of love of Eros.

Speech of Phaedra

In his speech, Phaedrus said that Eros, according to the assurances of Parmenides and Hesiod, is the oldest of the deities. He does not even have parents. The power given by Eros is not comparable to any other. The lover does not abandon the object of passion to the mercy of fate, and the beloved is noble because he is devoted to the loving.

Pausanias Speech

He draws attention to the fact that not always a love affair is sublime. It can be low-lying. Pausanias believes that there are two Eros, for the goddesses Aphrodite, whom many recognize as his mother, are also two. Aphrodite Heavenly is the eldest of them, this is the daughter of Uranus. The youngest (Aphrodite Trivia) is the daughter of Dione and Zeus. Thus, there are two Eros - vulgar and heavenly - which are very different from each other.

Noble heavenly love is a feeling for a man who is smarter and more beautiful than a woman. Such love can not be called frivolous lust. This noble and worthy feeling. He who is embraced by him, everything is allowed, but only in the sphere of the mind and soul, for the sake of perfection and wisdom, and not for the sake of the body. Such a person commits disinterested deeds.

The speech of Eriksimha

Then one funny episode describes Plato ("Feast"). The summary of his next. The queue to speak after Pausanias was to pass to Aristophanes, a well-known comedian. However, he was very drunk and could not cope with hiccoughs. The word was given to the doctor Eriksimahu.

In his speech, he says that not only does Eros live in man. He is in all nature. The fact that there are two Eros is even necessary, because the essence of life is the maintenance of feelings in harmony. The same can be said about medicine. In her, the doctor's task is to ensure the balance of a healthy and sick beginning. The same can be said about music, about its harmony of rhythm and sound. The same applies to the weather. Different natural forces (moisture and dryness, cold and heat) only make the year abundant when they "merge" (in the act of love) with each other "harmoniously" and "judiciously." Even divination and sacrifice are acts of harmonic unity between gods and people.

The Speech of Aristophanes

Meanwhile, Aristophanes' hiccups pass, and he takes the floor. It is his speech that describes Plato ("Feast"). The summary of the words of the comedian is reduced to the myth he composed that people who inhabited the earth in ancient times were androgynous - at the same time women and men. They had 4 legs and arms, 2 faces looking in opposite directions, 2 pairs of ears, etc. When such a person was in a hurry, he moved, rolling with a wheel on 8 limbs.

Since the androgynous were very strong and outraged by their outrageous Zeus, he ordered Apollo to cut into 2 halves of each of them. The female and male parts were scattered on the ground. However, the remembrance of the former connection gave rise to the desire in people to seek each other in order to restore the former fullness.

Aristophanes concludes that the Eros is the desire of the halves to each other to restore their original nature and integrity. However, this is possible only if they honor the gods, because in case of wickedness the gods are able to cut people into even smaller parts.

We turn to the speech of Agathon and present its brief content. Plato's "Feast" is a dialogue that takes place in the house of this particular person.

Speech of Agathon

Speech at the feast after Aristophanes is held by the poet Agathon, the master of the house. With poetic fervor, he praises the following properties of Eros: flexibility of the body, tenderness, eternal youth. According to Agafon, the god of love does not tolerate any violence in the passion that he provokes. Feeling rudeness in someone's soul, he always leaves her. Eros gives courage, discretion, justice, wisdom to man. Agathon believes that love is the most worthy of the leaders. It is for him to follow all people.

The speech of Socrates

The book "Feast" (Plato), perhaps most interesting is the speech of Socrates. The words uttered by Agafon aroused the stormy reaction of those gathered. Socrates also praises her, however, so that his speech captures a restrained contradiction to the poet. The philosopher ironically notes that praiseworthy speech is the attribution to her of an enormous quantity of beautiful qualities, without thinking about whether this object possesses them or not. The philosopher declares that he intends to speak only the truth about the Erota.

Socrates in his speech resorts to Maytik, the dialectical method that he loved. The author describes how, when he was engaged in a dialogue with Agathon and asked questions that are artfully connected with each other, the philosopher gradually forces the interlocutor to abandon what he has just said.

Socrates says that love is the ardent desire of man for anything. However, you can only desire passionate when you are in need. You need something that you do not have. Since Eros is a love of good and beauty, it follows that he himself is devoid of good and beauty. This, however, does not mean that this god is ugly and angry, because he craves for good. Rather, Eros is somewhere in the middle between these two extremes. He does not have the fullness of life, so he aspires to it. And if he does not have this fullness, then he can not be called a god. Thus, the genius of love is something between the mortal and the immortal being. Staying between gods and people, Erot connects with the divine nature of man.

Socrates further tells the myth of how this god was conceived. This happened at the birthday of Aphrodite in the garden of Zeus. In conception, the god Poros (Wealth), asleep from drunken nectar, participated; And beggar Singing (Poverty). Eros, born of this connection, is poor, rude and ugly, like a mother. However, he is committed to fullness, to the perfect and beautiful, thanks to the properties of his father. Eros seeks all sorts of good qualities: not only to beauty, but also to heroism and courage. He seeks wisdom, therefore he dedicates his life to philosophy, staying in the middle between ignorance and wisdom. After all, if Erot succeeded in knowing the essence of being, he would have started to own it, and therefore would cease to strive for it, according to Socrates.

The erotic hierarchy described by him continues Plato's dialogue "Feast". The philosophy of Socrates in relation to love is a whole system. He has manifestations of this feeling as their spiritual qualities increase. Having fallen in love only with the body, we after a while gain the idea of Beauty, which unites all beautiful bodies into a single inviting symbol. However, through it a person gradually begins to love the soul more than the body. Thus appears the image of the Beautiful Soul. The mind (the higher part of our being) after a while thanks to this craving finds a thirst for science and wisdom. From individual sciences a person then proceeds to the idea of the Beautiful, which is the limit of the desires of all people.

Speech of Alcibiades

We will continue to describe Plato's "Feast" dialogue, a summary of which is given in the review. Further the author speaks about how Alcibiades breaks into a feast. He is drunk, surrounded by a bunch of revelers. Guests at the banquet can hardly explain the essence of conversations to Alcibiades. He is offered to express his opinion about Eros. However, having read the contents of the speech of the previous speaker, the latter fully agrees with him. In his words there is no further development of the theme of love in the work of Plato "Feast". Since he has nothing to add about Eros, Alcibiades decides to make a speech in honor of the great philosopher Socrates.

He compares the appearance of the philosopher with the silenos (satellites of Dionysus) and with Marcia, an ugly satyr. However, Alcibiades notes that when he listens to Socrates, his heart beats harder, and tears flow from his eyes. The same happens with a lot of other people. Socrates makes his speeches live in a new way and avoid unworthy actions. In the divine words of the philosopher one can find answers to all the questions that those who want to achieve the highest nobility ask.

The behavior of Socrates is also perfect. Alcibiades participated with him in a military campaign and was struck by the heroism of the philosopher and his great physical endurance. Socrates saved his life in battle, and then modestly refused the reward for it. This person is not like other people, both ancient and modern.

Plato, conveying in his work the speech of Alcibiades, leads us to the idea that it is in Socrates that the features of the "homeless", "not shoddy", "rude", "ugly", "poor", but inseparable from the desire for "perfect "And" beautiful "genius. This concludes the philosophical reasoning in Plato's "Feast" dialogue, a brief retelling, analysis and general information about which are set forth in this article. It remains for us to describe only the finale of this work.

Conclusion

After Alkiewid's speech, a small conclusion on the volume is presented, which concludes Plato's dialogue "Feast". The summary of it is of little interest from the point of view of philosophy. It tells how the guests of the feast gradually diverge. This concludes our brief summary. The "feast" of Plato is a work, to which even today many philosophers turn.