La filosofía: amor de la verdad y práctica de morir

Abstract

This essay explores the difference between the erotic Socrates portrayed in the Symposium and the apparently anerotic Socrates of the Phaedo. The interpretation of the first dialogue is limited to a comparison between the Platonic Aristophanes’ doctrine of Eros and the “androgynous” version of Socrates-Diotima. The central thesis is that the Aristophanic version is truer to our erotic experience than Diotima’s, whereas the latter is a transformation of Eros from a generative into a contemplative power. Socrates’ Eros is shown as pointing beyond the body without losing its love of body: its love of the beautiful. The interpretation of the Phaedo, on the other hand, moves in the opposite direction: from the anerotic surface to its erotic depth. The primary aim is to show that its surface doctrine, which portrays philosophy as the practice of dying, does not contradict the doctrine of the Symposium because both coincide in depicting philosophy as the erotic desire to see the ideas. In the last section, attention is drawn to Plato’s enigmatic portrayal of philosophy as both passionate devotion to thinking and deep awareness of the insufficiency of logos.