Plato’s Symposium
Greece philosophers have impacted the modern world in many aspects; most people are actually unaware of how much they do to influence us. Specifically, both Aristophanes and Sappho were philosophers born in Greece and spent time discussing matters of love. Although both theorists comprehend love differently, they both relate sincerely. By means of their views of love and intimacy we can relate our lives to their concepts to have a greater understanding of what true love may mean to us.
In the speech of Aristophanes named Plato’s Symposium he speaks about the origin of love. Aristophanes tries to enlighten a party of men with a history lesson to explain the true nature of why human beings desire love and to be loved. In his story he explains the attraction homosexuals and heterosexuals share, and how they came to procreate and the reason why humans take pleasure in intimacy. However, the most significant idea of the story explains our hope of finding our true love. Centuries ago humans were all made in pairs attached back to back, they were exceptionally strong and they never dreamed of “love” but sought power. One day they attempted to destroy the gods of mount Olympus but were unsuccessful. Zeus thought carefully of a punishment and decided to weaken the human race by separating them physically. ”Now since their natural form had been cut in two, each one longed for its own other half”. In time Zeus made a way for the two halves to form 1 with intimacy and sometimes with this; a child would be born and love would be born into the child. Human “love” was created by the separation of our other halves “each of us then is a matching half of a human whole”. “And so, when a person meets the half that is his very own…then something wonderful happens: the two are struck from their senses by love, by a sense of belonging to one another, and by desire, and they don’t want to be separated from one another, not even for a moment.”
Fragments is about the kind of love Sappho
In the speech of Aristophanes named Plato’s Symposium he speaks about the origin of love. Aristophanes tries to enlighten a party of men with a history lesson to explain the true nature of why human beings desire love and to be loved. In his story he explains the attraction homosexuals and heterosexuals share, and how they came to procreate and the reason why humans take pleasure in intimacy. However, the most significant idea of the story explains our hope of finding our true love. Centuries ago humans were all made in pairs attached back to back, they were exceptionally strong and they never dreamed of “love” but sought power. One day they attempted to destroy the gods of mount Olympus but were unsuccessful. Zeus thought carefully of a punishment and decided to weaken the human race by separating them physically. ”Now since their natural form had been cut in two, each one longed for its own other half”. In time Zeus made a way for the two halves to form 1 with intimacy and sometimes with this; a child would be born and love would be born into the child. Human “love” was created by the separation of our other halves “each of us then is a matching half of a human whole”. “And so, when a person meets the half that is his very own…then something wonderful happens: the two are struck from their senses by love, by a sense of belonging to one another, and by desire, and they don’t want to be separated from one another, not even for a moment.”
Fragments is about the kind of love Sappho
Bibliography: Senay, Suzanne, Mrs, ed. Philosophy of Love and Sex. Toronto: Canadian Scholars ', 2010. Print.