The unity of Plato's Symposium

O'Neill, Seamus Joseph (2001) The unity of Plato's Symposium. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The unity of Plato's Symposium is its continuity. There are a number of themes and threads of continuity throughout the dialogue which dialectically progress from beginning to end. These threads of continuity are drawn out and examined in relation to one another to form a complete and coherent doctrine of love. Chapter 1 examines the first five speeches, each of which rhetorically presents the nature and function of love. Chapter 2 demonstrates how these rhetorical notions are drawn together and grounded dialectically by the speech of Socrates. In Chapter 3 the speech of Alcibiades is examined with particular reference to how Alcibiades' account of the conduct of Socrates reflects and demonstrates the proper conduct of the lover as it has been dialectically grounded in Socrates' speech. The nature and function of love unfolds throughout the dialogue in a movement from the implicit to the explicit, and from rhetoric to dialectic. The speeches, taken as a whole, express the dynamic of love as evolving mediation between humanity and divinity.

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