The Symposium

The Symposium

            The general argument made by Plato in his work, The Symposium is that there are no general statements. Not every subject has only one side to it. People must consider that there are other parts to every matter. More specifically, Plato argues that love isn’t all beautiful. In the paper, Diotima says, “Love is…a lover of wisdom, and being a lover of wisdom is in a mean between the wise and the ignorant” (page 285). In this passage, Plato is suggesting that Love isn’t specifically beautiful. There are some negatives to the theme, and there’s opposition in all things. In conclusion, it is Plato’s belief that there are no general statements to a topic.

            In my view, I agree with Plato. Others might say, “what about murder? Murder is absolutely the worst crime to commit.” However, I would argue with them, “what about self defense? Wouldn’t you try to save your own life if someone were trying to kill you?” I realize that I am using an extreme subject, but it’s true. There are so many different things to consider within an opinion. In fact, this was the first thing I learned in Humanities. I learned that people can be so stubborn in their opinions that they are only skimming the surface of what they believe in. It really made me question a topic, and truly get to the heart of it. I used to be so narrow minded when it came to opinions. Not that I wouldn’t listen to what others had to say (well, sometimes I would do that), but I just wouldn’t try to ask deeper questions. The movie, Shrek, Shrek is trying to explain to Donkey that, “Ogres are like onions…Onions have layers. Ogres have layers.” Opinions are a lot like onions and ogres. Plato wants people to see that there are layers of reasons and points of views. Nothing is really absolute. Questions really shouldn’t be just yes and no. There’s got to be a reason behind it all. I maintain that Plato is right. People are narrow minded, and everyone should try to dig to the heart of their opinion, and why they believe in it. Therefore, I conclude that Plato wants people to not only see one side and stick with it, but to have layers of understanding .