Carkstock and Sweet Tarts

I had thought about this for a while and wrote a journal entry briefly commenting upon love however I felt I would share this with my classmates. Through the modern marvels of mass media and Hallmark’s cash crop, Valentines Day; the notion of love within our society has ascended from its physical body, transcended across generations and obtained immortality through its presence as human emotion. In our society we regard love with compassion, the ability to give “birth” to another “being”, an entity that lasts forever. Within Plato’s Symposium, each of the seven participants has expressed his expression and explanation on the being Love. In regards to Socrates’ the presentation of Diotima’s speech creates a notion of love which clearly differs from those expressed by the other participants. Beginning with his genealogy, the seer Diotima remarks on Love as a follower of Aphrodite, a being who is by no means mortal, nor immortal; one that is not one thing and its opposite. Diotima’s Love possesses attributes of its parents, Resource and Poverty, and while Love is a rough and always in a state of need, he is also very resourceful. A love that may live one day and die the next, A love who ultimately lusts for wisdom, a love whose true purpose is to achieve divinity through birth of the mind and body, this is Diotima’s Love. In short Diotima’s love explains the the birth of philosophy, the creation of Love that is truly divine. Diotima presents a love in which sexual pleasure is not the gratification of the act. Diotima believes that procreation between a male and female only contributes to the birth of the body, a being that is mortal. On the other hand, while two man can not procreate, they possess the ability to share ideas (philosophy) which is the true gratification of love. This sharing of ideas between men is a love that is divine and immortal as it contributes to the union of body and mind. In regards to our society Diotima’s Love at first can be viewed as a love that meets no ends, rigid and compassionless. However I find it ironic, as one delves further into her explanation of Love, the love expressed in Diotima’s speech bare compassion for knowledge and creates a divine being, a love that lasts forever. The very characteristics that we attribute to love are those that Diotima had attributed within her speech.