The Ages of Socrates in Plato's Symposium

Authors

  • Margalit Finkelberg Tel Aviv University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-4105_21_4

Keywords:

Socrates, Diotima, age-classes, the Guardians, Theaetetus

Abstract

Plato’s Symposium has no less than three dramatic dates: its narrative frame is placed in 401 BCE; Agathon’s dinner party is envisaged as having occurred in 416; finally, Plato makes Socrates meet Diotima in 440 BCE. I will argue that the multi-level chronology of the Symposium should be approached along the lines of Socrates’ intellectual history as placed against the background of Greek ideas of age classes (also exploited in the Republic). As a result, the Symposiumfunctions as a retrospective of Socrates’ life, which uses the traditional concept of ages of man to create a paradigm of philosophical life.

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Plato #21

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Published

2021-01-28

How to Cite

Finkelberg, M. (2021). The Ages of Socrates in Plato’s Symposium. PLATO JOURNAL, 21, 59-69. https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-4105_21_4

Issue

Vol. 21 (2021): Plato Journal #21

Section

Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2021 PLATO JOURNAL

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows sharing the work with recognition of authorship and initial publication in Antropologia Portuguesa journal.