Socrates 'Phaedrus Non-Lover'

"The Lover vs. the Non-Lover"

In Plato's Phaedrus, a dialogue between the main protagonist Socrates and his dear friend Phaedrus, the idea of love and philosophy join together and in one are the aspects of the other. Phaedrus has been spending the morning with Lysias, and decides to refresh himself by taking a walk along the Athenian countryside, when he is met by Socrates, who professes he will not leave him until he delivers the speech that Lysias has left with him. Phaedrus does not deny Socrates, and the two decide to direct their way to a tree which they see across the distance. There, lying down amidst the pleasant countryside, they will read the speech of Lysias and Socrates will respond. In this paper, I will determine that in The
He boasts that he is more capable of developing a better speech along the same basic theme with the addition of his own concepts. In his second speech Socrates proposes to tell the truth about love. Socrates still agrees that one should choose the non-lover over the lover; however he proceeds to raise his own valid points that refute Lysias' opinion. Socrates first distinguishes the differences between the lover and the non-lover. He goes on to say that in every human there are two principles of a better and a worse, also known as reason and desire. These principles lead up to the overall master power of love. Socrates then discusses the conflict of the pursuit to find pleasure versus the good. Nevertheless, he retreats back to the idea that love is a god or divine presence that therefore cannot be evil. Socrates claims that love is the gift of the gods, a heaven-sent form of madness or possession. This idea of madness is one of the prevailing and central themes that Socrates focuses on in his speech. He claims that this madness will bring the greatest blessings and is one of the most necessary aspects of life. Socrates speaks of how madness leads to love and if you choose the lover over the non-lover then you will be more at a disadvantage. He goes so far as to divide his madness into four different kinds. First there is
In order for this to be, Socrates must go into depth about the soul, because that is where we are affected by madness and find our happiness. This is the connecting link that leads one explanation of love as madness to a discussion of the soul. The main idea focuses on the soul being the driving force that leads a person here on earth and in the afterlife. It is always in motion and as a self-mover has no beginning, it cannot be destroyed. According to Socrates, the soul is immortal, divine, and infinite. It is the soul that presides over all aspects of life. The proof is in Socrates' own definition of the soul that goes beyond all living and non-living things in both the human life and the afterlife. I believe that Socrates uses very direct, obvious dialogue about the nature of the soul to be as perfectly clear as possible about the main idea of the text. The soul is something that is unbreakable, immortal, and generates all human action. Socrates outlines how the soul is the basis for all that he speaks about; the essential lesson which all his speeches are based