Plato’s Symposium

What is the ultimate goal of love, as described by Diotima? What do you think of that goal?

Is Diotima’s description of an ascent from earthly to divine things a reasonable guide for us?

Many Greek philosophers were interested in explaining the phenomenon of change, trying to describe what remained constant through change (the horse grows, but it remains the same horse). Some took a material view, saying that the world is made of a few elements (or perhaps many atoms) that do not change; it is only their changing combinations that we see. Plato’s view was that the physical world we perceive is to some extent unreal because it appears to change. The real things are unchanging and (we would say) abstract. What do you think of this view?