Why Is Diotima a Woman Essay - 825 Words

Diotima, Socrates great teacher from the Symposium, a work by Plato was one of the most influential women thinkers of all time, whether she was a real person or a literary fictional character. She related to Socrates the theory of love that he described to the partygoers at Agathons banquet, a celebration of Agathons victory at the competition of Dionysis in Athens and of Eros. Before we search for the idea of why Diotima is a woman, we should first discuss a little about her. We know that, if she were an actual person, she would have been born around 470 BCE and died around 410 BCE. She might have been a priestess from Mantinea. Now if she was a real priestess or poet is uncertain. There is archaeological evidence, plus the fact†¦show more content†¦The first is obvious. Diotima is a woman because she is not a man. If Diotima had been portrayed as a man then Socrates would have been seen as having been initiated into the mysteries of erotic desire by an older and wiser male. This would have inevitably suggested to Platos contemporaries that Socrates owed his deep understanding of the nature of the erotic (Symposium 177.d) to the passionate attention of a former lover. By having a woman educate Socrates in the ways of Eros, Plato avoided the suggestion that the he was Socrates real lover. Plato wanted to rule out that he and Socrates were sexual lovers, rather than just merely platonic lovers. (Gould p.193) Plato strenuously wanted to avoid this, not only because it would have lent the stamp of Socratic approval to a social practice for which Plato himself entertained the liveliest mistrust but, more importantly, because it would have had the effect of valorizing the Athenian institution of paederasty (Sexual relations between a man and a boy (usually anal intercourse with the boy as a passive partner)) on the very grounds on which Platos Pausanias, earlier in the Symposium, had celebrated. (181.c-d3) We can further this by saying that if Pla to had represented Socrates as having benefited from the erotic expertise of a mature male, the principle underlying Socrates later rejection of Alcibiades (Symposium 222.c3) would have been obscured, and Plato would haveShow MoreRelated Why is Diotima a woman? Essay examples805 Words   |  4 Pages Diotima, Socrates great teacher from the Symposium, a work by Plato was one of the most influential women thinkers of all time, whether she was a real person or a literary fictional character. 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