Abstract

In the Symposium, Socrates makes clear that to speak of eros is to speak both of its object and of its goal. Eros always has an object because it is always eros "of" something and always has a goal because it is always "for the sake of something". All of the symposiasts agree that eros is for the sake of happiness; the disputes which animate the dialogue revolve around diverging suggestions about the object whose possession is thought to yield final satisfaction. Plato offers not a single option but strikingly distinct alternatives. ;The question addressed in this dissertation is what---if anything at all---constitutes the objective and universal content of lasting satisfaction according to the Symposium. The diversity of erotic objects discussed in this dialogue might appear to indicate Plato's denial of an objective hierarchy of desire applicable to all human beings. I claim that, on the contrary, a serious consideration of the question must be framed precisely in the context of the possibility of a multiplicity of final objects of eros. The main chapters of my dissertation elicit and evaluate the account of the object of eros which each speaker regards as most essential; I do this by means of close textual analysis. ;In the Conclusion, I set side by side the proposed answers to the question of desire's ultimate object and I suggest a way of judging among them rooted in the Symposium. I contend that the dialogue considered as a whole endorses an objective erotic hierarchy and a related conception of human fulfillment. In order to support my argument, I show that the Symposium embodies a conception of reason that develops its account of human life through calculative thinking, myth, strict logical argumentation, first person narrative, technical discourse, negative description, poetry and philosophy. This array points to what I call "a generous conception of reason" able not only to know supersensible realities but also to discern what is final and what is best for a human life