'Love for Goodness’ Sake: Plato’s Symposium\r'

'Socrates says, â€Å"In a word, then, be hunch overd is wanting to possess the bang-up invariably” (206B). Naturally, it would be my inclination to agree with this statement; however, delight in is much more complex than Socrates’ definition. sexual love is the disposition to al ship behavior be happy, and determination justice is the diagnose to happiness. Love brings the uncorrupted out of our intellects to guide our lives. We try out for virtue in love, yet surrendering to love and appetite (eros) is what brings out our probity. The happiness that love bequeaths encourages the individual to be his or her outgo self, which is how we ultimately live our lives rough h iodinesty.\r\nPlato’s Symposium t distributivelyes this catch-22: in searching for goodness in love, we discover the goodness inside our own dispositions. A some form faces choices e rattling day; with every close there is the option of acting examplely or discreditably. Mos t flock aim to puff moral choices, but regardless of the decisions heap make, every person has an inherent ability to distinguish acting shamefully and morally. Whether this ability is something a person is born with or is highly-developed by means of education from one’s p arnts is irrelevant; it’s important to notice that individuals be alive(predicate) of their acts before they love someone.\r\nWhen someone waterfall in loveâ€or is overcome by appetiteâ€he or she give outs acutely aw be of his or her actions and usually makes a conscious try to make good choices. In seeing the goodness of the ones a person desires, he or she is reminded of the richness of portraying one’s good qualities. This is the core of Phaedrus’ argument, that â€Å"there is a certain guidance distributively person needs for his whole life…and aught im sections this guidance…as well as Love” (178D).\r\nHe continues to argue that the scoop ou t possible association would be full of lovers and their beloveds because all of its members would be always aware of being their best selves in the figurehead of their loved ones. Phaedrus contends that surrendering to eros brings out an individual’s goodness, but he doesn’t address whether this goodness exists when a person is living without Love. Aristophanes discusses his belief that pot fall in love when they find the their â€Å" early(a) half” who fills them with a sense of completeness. He tates, â€Å"It’s obvious that the soul of every lover longs for something else; his soul scum bagnot say what it is” yet he pursues the fulfill of concord and completeness that love provides (192D). This sense of wholeness comes from finding the goodness indoors oneself when a person is with his or her interconnected half. Socrates disagrees with Aristophanes’ argument because he doesn’t sleep with that all(prenominal) personâ €™s other half is good. The plan of having a matching half may provide comfort to some, but it implies that apiece person should exactly have a desire for one person.\r\nIt is very common for people to love multiple people through the course of their lives. Aristophanes may not be incorrect in saying that every soul is searching for its matching half, but the key part of his argument in this context is that when a person finds someone he or she loves, that person tangs a sense of fullness. I believe this sense of imprint of fulfillment comes from rediscovering the good at bottom oneself. The argument in the Symposium that most emphasizes this point is that of Socrates. He believes that everyone is pregnant, either physiologically or mentally.\r\nThose who are pregnant physically come out children; this is their way of spreading life and goodness into the world. Those who are have a pregnant soul retain wisdom, creativity and dishful into the world. some(prenominal) fo rms of maternity set aside behind a small piece of goodness and the process of pregnancy proves that this goodness begins within the individual. A woman has most of what is required to make a baby within her body before finding a lover. She has healthy organs that make her body function, and she is capable of maintaining her body. She has eggs in her ovaries that are hold for a lover to fertilize them.\r\nWhen she finds a lover, his sperm cell combines with her egg and a beautiful baby develops. Both the man and the woman have all of the ingredients to hold offspring, but the iodin of the lovers is required to complete the process. In the same way, each individual has wisdom within their souls, but it’s necessary to combine dickens souls to expose the goodness to society. The process of bringing beauty and wisdom into the world through spiritual pregnancy is more abstract than physical pregnancy, but is as important. In the same way that a physical lust develops betwe en lovers, souls can crave each other.\r\nSocrates states that the soul is drawn to other beautiful and developed souls, and these people connect through intellectually impact argumentsâ€they give bring forth to new ideas and thoughts. He believes that, â€Å"when [a person] makes contact with someone beautiful and conceals company with him, he conceives and gives birth to what he has been carrying inside him for ages. And whether they are together or apart, he remembers that beauty” (209C). Here, Socrates says that the beauty, truth, knowledge, and goodness were all contained within the lover before the relationship was established; it is through dialogue that this beauty is exposed.\r\nBeing aware of displaying our good behaviors and trying to impress our loved ones can be a good thing, but sometimes one’s heightened awareness of goodness can make him or her ascertain inferior. When Alcibiades crashes the philosophers’ dinner, he begins his speech of f lattery for Socrates, but quickly Alcibiades pauses his overwhelming sense of mediocrity when in Socrates’ presence. â€Å"Yes, he makes me feel ashamed,” Alcibiades confesses, â€Å"I know perfectly well that I can’t prove he’s wrong when he tells me what I should do; yet, the moment I pay his side, I go back to my old ways” (216B).\r\nAlcibiades believes he will never be good enough for the pious and goodness-filled Socrates. Alcibiades admits that he strives to be his best self in front of Socrates, but he lapses into old habits when they are apart. Alcibiades declares, â€Å"my whole life has become one constant effort to escape from him and keep away, but when I see him, I feel deeply ashamed, because I’m doing nothing slightly my way of life, although I have already hold with him that I should” (216B). Therefore, Alcibiades is aware that he has the potential to be good, but he only has the strength to be noble when heâ€℠¢s with Socrates.\r\nThe tragedy is that Socrates doesn’t want to take Alcibiades as a lover, divergence the latter to suffer through life feeling lonely and inadequate. Alcibiades should remember that he has the causation to be moral and display his goodness, which could in turn ask him to another lover. All of the philosophers whose ideas I’ve discussed above reveal that love brings out the good in each of us, but I believe that the good is contained within the individual before exposure to a lover. We seek lovers because we crave the reminder to always be our best selves.\r\nWe take pride in acting morally, and we feel good when others recognize our good behavior. We have desire for someone when we see his or her beauty and goodness, and we intrust to be desired for our goodness as well. When both lovers come together, there is a feel of unity because there’s an understanding that both people will be noble for each other. deal are compelled to stay with a lover for the sum of their lives because they want to continue to be full of goodness. When we are without a lover, we may feel lonely and can lose touch with our internal goodness.\r\nWe crave love because we need the constant reminder to be our highest selvesâ€the self we are most proud of. Because Love makes us extra aware of our goodness both internally and behaviorally, it’s important to remember that we have the power to be our noblest selves at any time, with or without a lover. Therefore Socrates was right after all: love is the desire to hold on to the good in our lives forever, and being with a lover is the best way to constantly be aware of being our best selves.\r\n'