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The Dramatic Prologue of Plato's Symposium As Introduction to the Dialogue's Philosophy Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1996 The Dramatic Prologue of Plato's Symposium as Introduction to the Dialogue's Philosophy James Allen Kellerman Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Classics Commons Recommended Citation Kellerman, James Allen, "The Dramatic Prologue of Plato's Symposium as Introduction to the Dialogue's Philosophy" (1996). Dissertations. 3619. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/3619 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1996 James Allen Kellerman LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO THE DRAMATIC PROLOGUE OF PLATO'S SYMPOSIUM AS INTRODUCTION TO THE DIALOGUE'S PHILOSOPHY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICAL STUDIES BY JAMES ALLEN KELLERMAN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MAY 1996 Copyright by James A Kellerman, 1996 All rights reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful to the faculty of the Department of Classical Languages and Literature at Loyola University Chicago for their assistance as I wrote the dissertation. In particular, I am indebted to John Makowski, who directed this dissertation, and to James Keenan and Brian Lavelle, who served as its readers. I am also grateful to the trustees of the Arthur J. Schmitt Dissertation Fellowship, who allowed me to devote a full year to writing this dissertation. The moral support of my parents, my two sisters, my colleague in the ministry, the Rev. Arnold zu Windisch-Graetz, and the people of Concordia and First Bethlehem Lutheran Churches in Chicago has greatly helped me in this endeavor. iii Sacrum Meis Parentibus Carissimis TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . iii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 The Analytical Philosophers and the Prologue The Dramatic Approach and the Prologue The Audience and Composition of the Prologue Conclusion 2. EROS IN THE TRANSMISSION OF THE DIALOGUE . 44 The Purpose of the Narrative Frame The Characters of the Narrative Frame The Setting of the Narrative Frame Conclusion 3. EROS OF BEAUTY AND THE GOOD: THE CHARACTERS AND DRAMA OF THE PROLOGUE . 84 Beauty as Defined by the Characters in the Prologue The 'EpaaTai of Pleasure: Pausanias and Aristophanes The 'EpaaTai of Rhetoric and Sophistry: Phaedrus, Eryximachus, and Agathon The 'Epaa-nls of Absolute Beauty: Socrates The Ascent to Beauty Itself Dramatized Conclusion iv 4. EROS OF BEAUTY AND THE GOOD: EROS IN THE DICTION OF THE PROLOGUE. 131 Allusions to Eros and Erotic Processes in Adjectives, Adverbs, and Nouns Derived from Adjectives Adjectives of Beauty and its Antonyms Other Adjectives Allusions to Eros and Erotic Processes in Verbs and Deverbative Nouns Eros' Quest Eros' Middle State Eros' Goal Eros' Method Conclusion 5. EROS AT THE SYMPOSIUM: THE PROLOGUE AND THE EPILOGUE . 170 The Sway of Eros at Symposia The Uniqueness of Agathon's Symposium Socrates, the Man Who Best Reflects the Uniqueness of Agathon's Symposium Conclusion 6. CONCLUSION 213 WORKS CITED 219 VITA .... 228 v CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Although almost all scholars have recognized that the prologue of the Symposium is a literary gem, few have given it the attention that it deserves. Despite the wealth of recent scholarship on the Symposium, the prologue has not received as much attention as other aspects of that dialogue have: the structure of the dialogue, 1 1 Martin Warner, "Dialectical Drama: The Case of Plato's Symposium" in The Language of the Cave, ed. Andrew Barker and Martin Warner (Edmonton, Alberta: Academic Printing and Publishing, 1992), 157-175; Charles E. Salman, "The Contrivance of Eros in Plato's Symposium" (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1986); Steven Lowenstam, "Paradoxes in Plato's Symposium," (hereafter, Lowenstam, "Paradoxes") Ramus 14 (1985): 85-104; John Miller, "The Esoteric Unity of Plato's Symposium," Apeiron 12:2 (1978): 19- 25; Henry G. Wolz, "Philosophy as Drama: An Approach to Plato's Symposium," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 30 (1970): 323-353. In addition, four commentaries have recently been published on the Symposium: Daniel Anderson, The Masks of Dionysos: A Commentary on Plato's "Symposium" (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993); Robert Lloyd Mitchell, The Hymn to Eros: A Reading of Plato's "Symposium" (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1993); R.E. Allen, The Symposium, vol. 2 of The Dialogues of Plato (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1991 ); Stanley Rosen, Plato's Symposium, 2d ed. (New Haven: Yale. University Press, 1987). Dover has also written a mainly grammatical commentary on the Symposium that elaborates somewhat on the philosophy of the dialogue. See K.J. Dover, ed. Plato: Symposium (hereafter Dover, Symposium), Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980). 2 the speeches of Pausanias,2 Eryximachus,3 Aristophanes,4 Agathon,5 Socrates,6 and Alcibiades?; the seating arrangement of 2 Donald K. Gallagher, "In Praise of Pausanias," Kinesis 6 (1974): 40-55; Robert Nola, "On Some Neglected Speakers in Plato's Symposium: Phaedrus and Pausanias," Prudentia 22:1 (1990): 54- 73. 3oavid Konstan and Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, "Eryximachus' Speech in the Symposium," Apeiron 16 {1982): 40-46. 4Steven Lowenstam, "Aristophanes' Hiccups," Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 27 (1986): 43-56. Hereafter Lowenstam, "Hiccups." 5John G. Griffith, "Static Electricity in Agathon's Speech in Plato's Symposium," Classical Quarterly 40 (1990): 547-548. 6Sylvie Gresillon, "L'ironie du discours de Diotime dans le Banquet de Platon," Revue des Etudes Grecques 100 (1987): xxi-xxii; Walter Benjamin, "Socrates," The Philosophical Forum 15:1-2 (1983- 1984): 52-54; Reinhard Brandt, "Platon, Symposion 199c3-201 c9," Archiv fur Geschichte der Philosophie 64 (1982): 19-22. 7Martha Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 87-233. 3 the speakers, 8 immortality, 9 beauty and love, 1 O lexical and textual matters.11 Often when analyzing the Symposium, scholars ignore or merely summarize the prologue, even though they would not let any other part of the dialogue escape with such little comment.12 Nor-- 8Peter H. von Blanckenhagen, "Stage and Actors in Plato's Symposium," Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 33: 1 (Spring 1992): 51-68. 9M. Dyson, "Immortality and Procreation in Plato's Symposium," Antichthon 20 (1986): 59-72. Michael J. O' Brien, "'Becoming Immortal' in Plato's Symposium," in Greek Poetry and Philosophy: Studies in Honour of Leonard Woodbury, ed. Douglas E. Gerber (Chico, California: Scholars Press, 1984), 186-205. 1 Ocatherine Osborne, Eros Unveiled: Plato and the God of Love (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994). Vigdis Songe-M0ller, "Sexualitat und Philosophie in Platons Symposion," Symbolae Osloenses 63 (1988): 25-50; David L. Roochnik, "The Erotics of Philosophical Discourse," History of Philosophy Quarterly 4, no. 2 (1987): 117-129; David M. Halperin, "Plato and Erotic Reciprocity," (hereafter, Halperin, "Reciprocity") Classical Antiquity 5 (1985): 60- 80; Halperin, "Platonic Eros and What Men Call Love," (hereafter Halperin, "Eros") Ancient Philosophy 5 (1985): 161-204; Ludwig C.H. Chen, "Knowledge of Beauty in Plato's Symposium," Classical Quarterly 33:1 (1983): 66-74; Gerhard Kruger, Eros und Mythos bei Plato, Klostermann Texte Philosophie, ed. Richard Schaeffler (Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 1978). 11 R. Renehan, "Three Places in Plato's Symposium," Classical Philosophy 85 (1990): 120-126. Joseph Cotter, "' E TTaTTo8aveTv TETEAEVTTJKOTL: Plato, Symp. 180A," Glotta 62 (1984): 161-165. 12An extreme example of this phenomenon is Miller, 19-25, who ignores the prologue entirely in his discussion of the structure of the dialogue. Friedlander does little more than give the historical background of the dialogue; Paul Friedlander, Platon, 2d ed. (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1960), 3:1-3. Anderson, Mitchell, and Allen 4 with one exception13--have recent in-depth studies of the Symposium explicitly connected the prologue to the heart of the subject of the dialogue, Eros. Instead most scholars have concentrated upon explaining the historical or cultural background of the drama of the prologue, occasionally alluding to the implications for our understanding of the rest of the dialogue, including Socrates' description of Eros.14 Furthermore, David Halperin, the sole scholar to treat the prologue primarily as a dramatization of Eros' effect on people believes that the prologue refutes Socrates' philosophy of Eros.15 Thus, even those scholars who have explored the prologue have not fully understood the prologue's relationship to Socrates' presentation of Eros. In order to give the prologue its due, this dissertation will examine how it is organically connected to the dialogue as a whole. In particular, this relationship will be shown by examining how the prologue dramatizes the philosophies of Eros espoused in the dialogue and how, contra Halperin, it vindicates Socrates' speech. In summarize the content of the prologue and then explore one or two aspects of the prologue in their
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