My examination of Plato’s valuation of eros in the Symposium and Phaedrus dialogues in its manifold elements in general has resulted in a more concrete definition of eros as a relational entity. The transition of an initially natural cosmic force in archaic times into a more valid ethical quality so as to encourage betterment in human relations is evident in Plato’s philosophy. The terms ‘Platonic love’ and ‘eros’ are misinterpreted and my thesis purports to prove that Plato’s eros is a spiritual quest for beauty (kalos), truth (alethes) and the good (agathos). Modern scholastic commentaries were referred to and proved helpful in assessing the differences in ancient and current ethical schools of thought. The argument purports that Platonic eros is not a static condition of soul but a continuous movement/progress towards the highest spiritual love. / Ancient Languages and Cultures / M.A. (Ancient Languages and Cultures)

My examination of Plato’s valuation of eros in the Symposium and Phaedrus dialogues in its manifold elements in general has resulted in a more concrete definition of eros as a relational entity. The transition of an initially natural cosmic force in archaic times into a more valid ethical quality so as to encourage betterment in human relations is evident in Plato’s philosophy. The terms ‘Platonic love’ and ‘eros’ are misinterpreted and my thesis purports to prove that Plato’s eros is a spiritual quest for beauty (kalos), truth (alethes) and the good (agathos). Modern scholastic commentaries were referred to and proved helpful in assessing the differences in ancient and current ethical schools of thought. The argument purports that Platonic eros is not a static condition of soul but a continuous movement/progress towards the highest spiritual love. / Ancient Languages and Cultures / M.A. (Ancient Languages and Cultures)

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Thesis--Kyōto Daigaku. / Bibliography: p. 166-167.

Proefschrift--Utricht. / "Stellingen": p. [i-iii] Bibliography: p. ix-xii.

This thesis is a metaphilosophical investigation into how food can be handled philosophically. The first chapter considers the question of whether food can be the subject matter of philosophy, and concludes that there are three possible ways: Foodist Philosophy, Philosophy of Food, and Philosophy and Food. This thesis focuses on the category Foodist Philosophy. The second chapter develops an account of foodist philosophy: it is a style of philosophy that assumes that our food and eating practices are fundamental aspects of the human condition. The third chapter analyses Plato's concept of love in the Symposium and these conclusions are objected to in a foodist critique in the fourth chapter. / KMBT_363 / Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in

Plato’s Symposium masterfully depicts several different explanations of the phenomenon of Eros or love. The physician Eryximachus depicts Eros as a cosmic force that can bring harmony to a number of areas, from medicine and music to astronomy and divination. Most readers of the Symposium have read Eryximachus in an unflattering way, as a pompous know-it-all who fails to give a speech that meets either his high aspirations or his high opinion of himself. In this paper I argue that this reading of Eryximachus and his speech is unpersuasive. My defense of Eryximachus has three components: (1) Plato treats Eryximachus sympathetically in the Symposium and elsewhere, and has him deliver a modest and perfectly coherent speech about the science of Eros. (2) Eryximachus’s speech can only be properly understood if we read it in the context of Hippocratic medical theory, which infuses the speech throughout. (3) Outside the Symposium, Plato views medicine as a model technē, and health as a central philosophical concept; inside the Symposium, Plato has his mouthpiece Socrates give a speech on behalf of the priestess Diotima that agrees with Eryximachus on nearly every point of his speech. This indicates that Plato would have viewed Eryximachus’s speech quite favorably, and that modern readers should follow suit. I conclude by suggesting how this reading of Eryximachus should influence how we read the Symposium as a whole. / text

This thesis contends that to uncover the 'real' symposion from its literary and artistic representations is a difficult task. Every representation of the symposion is informed by its author's wider textual ambitions. Its shape, the roles it plays, and the meanings it conveys are all determined by considerations other than providing an authentic snapshot of sympotic life. However, by acknowledging and investigating these authorial strategies, it might just be possible to catch a glimpse of the event they purport to represent, as this close reading of the Symposia of Plato and Xenophon aims to show. For, at the heart of Plato and Xenophon's ambitions lies an interest in the protocols and procedures of the symposion, even as these are shaped for philosophical ends. Chasing the symposion via this route will lead us into a world of philosophy and education, where the democratic city clashes with and is subsumed into processes of elite self-fashioning. The performances in Plato's idealised symposion are epideixeis which affirm (at the same time as they open up and explore) their performers' claims to be well-educated, symposion-gomg kaloi kagathoi. By contrast, the epideixeis of Xenophon's symposiasts take part in a discussion of kalokagaihia, and suggest how the symposion might (or might not) facilitate its learning. Both Plato and Xenophon are concerned with the symposion as a location for kalokagathia and with kalokagathia as a process. In its quest for the symposion, this thesis uncovers two distinct, but related, conceptions of the symposion and suggests some new ways of reading Plato and Xenophon's Symposia. For Plato, the symposion operates alongside the more traditionally 'philosophical' content of his dialogue. By contrast, Xenophon imposes his writerly agenda on top of his symposion, extolling the merits of his textual Symposium over the symposion.

Many scholars who study Plato and Shakespeare together focus only on erotic love between lovers or nonsexual love between others. A closer study of A Midsummer Night’s Dream shows that Shakespeare uses Plato’s concepts of the soul in addition to the Forms, the guide, as well as staging the varieties of love that can exist between two individuals and the dangers of loving the physical more than the mind. Shakespeare takes these ideas embedded in Symposium and Phaedrus and not only crafts his play accordingly, but also creates his own versions through his unique interpretations. These alterations appear reflected in the play’s sequence of events, the characters’ actions, and the merging of the faerie and human realms. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection