Abstract

The dissertation is a hermeneutic reading of Plato's dialogue, the Symposium. It attempts to demonstrate that the dialogue's dramatic structure, as well as its literary, social, and political content, are inseparable from its philosophic content, and should be taken into account when understanding its philosophic meaning. The fact that the Symposium, unlike many of Plato's dialogues, does not openly portray philosophical arguments is taken to be of major importance. The Symposium consists of a series of speeches represented as recited via a series of narrations, not all of the narrators having witnessed the events they relate, and none of them claiming to present a complete account. The reading attempts to show how the ordering and arrangement of the speeches are of philosophic importance. It does not assume that any of the seven speakers, Socrates included, speaks unconditionally for Plato. Instead, this reading finds that none of them speaks unconditionally for Plato. The reading attempts to show how, by representing a conversation participated in by the philosopher, Socrates, and by pairing the remoteness of the narrations with an urgency concerning the events narrated, the dialogue embodies and portrays a model of human thought, which is dialectical, and which can be either immediately responsive or reflective. The Symposium's stress on elements often considered extraneous to philosophy is consistent with the claim, presented in many of Plato's dialogues, including the Republic and the Phaedrus, that philosophy is critical for a proper human life, which can be attained only by a well-ordered soul, and that a proper philosophy is one capable of harmonizing the different parts of the soul. The philosophic meaning of the Symposium cannot be understood apart from a dialectical engagement of its readers. Hence, understanding its philosophic import involves a consideration of the dialogue as an experience. Inasmuch as the dialogue is a written text, understanding it philosophically requires understanding reading it. To explore the nature of the dialogue as a particular experience, the dissertation explores a particular experience of reading the Symposium