Man as Monster
Eros and Hubris in Plato’s Symposium ∗
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23689725 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Th [Hrsg ] Fögen, M M [Hrsg ] Lee |
| Editors | Peter von Möllendorff |
| Year | 2009 |
| Pages | 87-110 |
| Publication date | 2009-12-24 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Bodies and Boundaries in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/9783110212532.87 |
| OpenAlex | W2502591704 |
| ISBN | 9783110212532 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 4 |
Accordi n g to Aristophan es' accoun t in Plato's Symposiu m (189c2-193d5), human s emerged from a race of double-bodied creatures, who are commonly miscon ceived by modern readers as being spherically shaped.Through a close readin g of the passage, 1 demon strate that the grotesque myth as n arrated by Aristophanes serves as a simile for the subsequen t n arrative of Diotima on the cognitive ascen t to the idea of beauty.Just as man is permanently searchin g for his lost other half and desires nothing else but to be reunited with it, so the true philosophical eroticist desires to see the idea of beauty.By leavin g behin d the beautiful bodies, beautiful souls an d beautiful cogn ition s, the phi losopher desires to b e with b eauty (auvetvm), to touch it (e<pa7rr£o-9at) and to procreate true and ultimate knowledge with it (TIKTSIV).Aristophanes' doub le-b odied prehistoric men suffered their division as punishment for their upptc-driven attempt to storm Olympus.Due to the character of the myth as a simile, it would appear that Socrates' description of cognitively approaching the divine world of ideas is also to b e understood as a form of upptc,.In order to illustrate this.Plato also uses the discourse of the monstrous.The cleft men, that is men as desiring b eings, as eroticists, are categorized as repaid; their existence, therefore, like the exist ence of the greatest eroticist of all, Socrates, points to the u|3pic, of philosophizing and its potentially b itter consequences. In Plat o'sSymposiu m, each of t he part icipat ing symposiast s at t empt s t o ana ly se the nature of desire {Eros).Some approaches are simpler, others more so phisticated.Interestingly , in contrast to the rest of the Platonic dialogues, this text lacks a leading moderator in the sense of one participant setting the tone and course of the conversation, nor does it display an attempt to bring together the divergent contributions.On the contrary, the reader is left with the impres sion of utter heterogeneity ; a feeling of having encountered a totally un-selfcontained, truly dialogical piece of work, behind which it is difficult to ascer-This article was first presented as a lecture at the conference Monster -Zu r cistheti.schenVerfass u ng eines Grenzbewohners (held at GieBen University, 22-24 March 2007).A German version ("Der Mensch.das Monstrum.
Aesthetics · Art · Environmental ethics · Hubris · Literature · Monster · Psychoanalysis · Theology · History, Medicine, and Leadership · Nuclear Issues and Defense · Philosophy · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2019 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |