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Socrates' Praise and Blame of Eros Socrates' Praise and Blame of Eros Author: David Foster Levy Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2219 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2010 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Political Science SOCRATES’ PRAISE AND BLAME OF EROS a dissertation by DAVID LEVY submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2010 © copyright by DAVID FOSTER LEVY 2010 ABSTRACT David Levy Dissertation Advisor: Christopher Bruell Socrates’ Praise and Blame of Eros It is only in “erotic matters” that Plato’s Socrates is wise, or so he claims at least on several occasions, and since his Socrates makes this claim, it is necessary for Plato’s readers to investigate the content of Socrates’ wisdom about eros. This dissertation undertakes such an investigation. Plato does not, however, make Socrates’ view of eros easy to grasp. So diverse are Socrates’ treatments of eros in different dialogues and even within the same dialogue that doubt may arise as to whether he has a consistent view of eros; Socrates subjects eros to relentless criticism throughout the Republic and his first speech in the Phaedrus , and then offers eros his highest praise in his second speech in the Phaedrus and a somewhat lesser praise in the Symposium. This dissertation takes the question of why Socrates treats eros in such divergent ways as its guiding thread and offers an account of the ambiguity in eros’ character that renders it both blameworthy and praiseworthy in Socrates’ estimation. The investigation is primarily of eros in its ordinary sense of romantic love for another human being, for Socrates’ most extensive discussions of eros, those of the Phaedrus and Symposium , are primarily about romantic love. Furthermore, as this investigation makes clear, despite his references to other kinds of eros, Socrates distinguishes a precise meaning of eros, according to which eros is always love of another human being. Socrates’ view of romantic love is then assessed through studies of the Republic , Phaedrus , and Symposium . These studies present a unified Socratic understanding of eros; despite their apparent differences, Socrates’ treatment of eros in each dialogue confirms and supplements that of the others, each providing further insight into Socrates’ complete view. In the Republic , Socrates’ opposition to eros, as displayed in both his discussion of the communism of the family in book five and his account of the tyrannic soul in book nine, is traced to irrational religious beliefs to which he suggests eros is connected. Socrates then explains this connection by presenting romantic love as a source of such beliefs in the Phaedrus and Symposium . Because eros is such a source, this dissertation argues that philosophy is incompatible with eros in its precise sense, as Socrates subtly indicates even within his laudatory treatments of eros in the Phaedrus and Symposium . Thus, as a source of irrational beliefs, eros is blameworthy. Yet eros is also praiseworthy. Despite his indication that the philosopher would be free of eros in the precise sense, Socrates also argues that the experience of eros can be of great benefit in the education of a potential philosopher. Precisely as a source of irrational religious belief, the erotic experience includes a greater awareness of the longing for immortality and hence the concern with mortality that Socrates believes is characteristic of human beings, and by bringing lovers to a greater awareness of this concern, eros provides a first step towards the self-knowledge characteristic of the philosophic life. Contents Introduction: Eros and Plato’s Politics .......................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: The Republic’s Blame of Eros .............................................................................................. 16 Part One: On the Purpose of Socrates’ Sexual Legislation in Book Five ............................................... 16 Equality ............................................................................................................................................... 19 Communism ........................................................................................................................................ 26 Self-Sufficiency and the Music Education .......................................................................................... 39 Mourning ............................................................................................................................................ 42 The Prohibition of Mourning in Book Three and its Place in the Education of the Guardians .......... 60 Part One Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 65 Part Two: Tyrannic Eros ......................................................................................................................... 67 Chapter One Conclusion: Eros, Pleasure, and Painlessness ................................................................... 78 Ch2: The Phaedrus’ Praise and Blame of Eros ......................................................................................... 86 Part One: Lysias’ Speech ........................................................................................................................ 86 Part Two: Socrates’ First Speech .......................................................................................................... 103 Part Three: Socrates’ Palinode .............................................................................................................. 130 The Interlude between Socrates’ First and Second Speech .............................................................. 131 Divine Madness ................................................................................................................................ 135 The Immortality and Idea of Soul ..................................................................................................... 140 Wing Loss and the Heavenly Journey ............................................................................................... 147 Philosophy and the Erotic Experience .............................................................................................. 154 Eros, Beauty, and Wing .................................................................................................................... 159 Eros and Education ........................................................................................................................... 169 Eros and Sexual Desire ..................................................................................................................... 174 i The Palinode’s Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 181 Chapter Two: Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 182 Chapter Three: Socrates’ Symposium Speech ........................................................................................... 184 Introduction: On the Symposium’s Relation to the Phaedrus ........................................................... 184 The Order of Socrates’ speech .......................................................................................................... 195 Socrates’ Refutation of Agathon ....................................................................................................... 199 Eros as the Intermediate .................................................................................................................... 202 Eros for Beauty and the Good ........................................................................................................... 214 Eros as Begetting in the Beautiful ..................................................................................................... 222 The Ladder of Love .......................................................................................................................... 238 Chapter Three: Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 248 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 250 Works Cited .............................................................................................................................................. 262 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to the very many people who have helped make this dissertation possible. My greatest debt is to my advisor, Professor Christopher Bruell. The example of his scholarship, his rigor in the interpretation of ancient texts, a rigor which I have seldom encountered elsewhere, taught me what it means to read a philosophic author. More important, with him as a guide, I have received an education in philosophy which surpasses what I had hoped for when I first came to Boston College. He has helped me to find my way towards answers to questions that I had previously avoided asking myself, and his example inspires my confidence that I may one day resolve
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