Analysis of Pausanias’ and Socrates’ Speeches in Plato's 'Symposium' Anonymous College

In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates’ eulogy, though delivered with the stated intent of praising love, is not truly about love at all. Instead, Socrates claims that the typical definition of love does not exist and instead praises wisdom. In saying that love is desire, and that you cannot want what you already have, Socrates asserts that the concept of love between people is fallacious since someone’s desire, and therefore love, for someone or something fades as he or she acquires precisely that object of affection. According to Socrates in his speech, the only thing that one can truly love is wisdom, since it can never be fully acquired. It is, after all, impossible to know everything. Thus, the theme of Socrates’ eulogy is the condemnation of love in the way that the other people present in the symposium define it, and the praise of wisdom as the only truly love-worthy thing. This conception has certain parallels to Pausanias’ speech, some in agreement and some directly contrasting. Pausanias also condemns the certain type of love wherein someone is attracted to an individual for solely physical reasons. However, the speeches of Pausanias and Socrates differ distinctly, since Pausanias identifies a type of love from one individual...