In his relationship with Socrates, has Alcibiades been made into a true lover; that is, is Alcibiades now a philosopher. To answer this, love must be defined philosophically or otherwise.
Socrates, in his speech, says that love is a feeling for some object. Love is a desire for an object. Eros is the Greek god of love. The Roman god of love is called Cupid. In his speech, Cupid says that love is a feeling for beautiful things. Socrates philosophically says ‘love’ is not good or beautiful’. He goes on and says that if it were the contrary, then he would not be in need of anything. However, he is still in need of ‘good and beautiful things’ (Tarrant, 2012).
Socratic’s speech describes what is referred to as the form of love that is in the highest ascent. This is called scala amories. He says that love is an action that takes place in series or levels of events. The fist level is of the course of love for the physical appearance of a person or thing. Then the feeling is raised to the level of beautiful souls, sciences and laws. Alcibiades, however, comes in praising not for love, but Socrates. He praises his uniqueness, courage, temperance and wisdom. This means that in as much as Alcibiades wants to be a philosopher, he is not. He wades off from the subject of concern. Instead of talking about love, he talks about another person and those who talk about love. This raises a lot of philosophical questions (Plato’s Symposium).
Many philosophers have adduced the speech of Alcibiades as a defense mechanism to Socrates against his accusation of corrupting young minds with his speech. Alcibiades, being a protégé of Socrates, emphasizes his (Socrates’) virtues. Many philosophical scholars say that Alcibiades was craving to popularize himself. Nevertheless, some argue that Alcibiades succeeded in being called a philosopher since in his speech, apologia, he made a philosophical point that is very crucial since he showed that Socrates was a philosopher that was right all along in his description of what love is (Tarrant, 2012). Love is a desire for things sciences and laws filled with immense beauty. This does not qualify him to be a philosopher. Philosophers are people that are involved in the fundamental study of existence, reality and knowledge. Love is nature and knowledge. Socrates was a philosopher. Alcibiades cannot be said to have been a philosopher simply because he talked about a philosopher.
As discussed above, philosophy is the study of nature, existence, reality and knowledge. Love, on the other hand, is defined as the affection or feeling that is intense. Types of love include Storge that is affection. Philia is a type of love that describes friendship. There is also Eros, which is romantic love. The final type of love is Agape. Agape is unconditional love. Socrates did not describe these types of love. He defined love in his own way as discussed. Alcibiades does not succeed in defining either love or philosophy. Socrates, in his definition, says that love. ‘Love is not good or beautiful’. I agree with this definition. Thus, in his relationship with Socrates, has Alcibiades been made into a true lover. Alcibiades is called a true lover because of his praises of Socrates. However, this does not make him a philosopher. He had the love for Socrates the philosopher. Nevertheless, he never involved himself in any philosophy. Socrates’ definition of love and philosophy is scholarly.
Works Cited
"Socrates’ Speech." Plato's Symposium. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Tarrant, Harold, and Marguerite Johnson. Alcibiades and the Socratic Lover-Educator.
Bristol: Bristol Classical, 2012. Print.
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