The Accounts Of Eros In The symposium Essay -- essays research paper

The Accounts of Eros in the "Symposium" The word love carries with it many, many different interpretations. In modern day, our views on what is appropriate love is much different from the views from the time of Socrates and Plato. To them love was eros, a direct translation of the word love. However, the word itself wasn't the only thing that was different about love. In Plato's "Symposium", there is a celebration for Agathon. He had just won a dramatic contest in Athens, Greece two nights ago. It is customary to drink much wine at these gatherings, however, every one present is too weak from the night before. (Nehamas & Woodruff, pg. xiii) So a proposition is made, by Phaedrus, to properly give praise to the god Eros, and speak on the topic of love. It was their opinion that no poet has yet been able to properly do so. (Nehamas & Woodruff, pg. 7) There were a total of seven accounts given in praise of eros, by seven different people who are present at the party. Of these accounts, the one that made the most sense was the speech of Socrates when he quotes Diotima. This account is practical, and shows love not as a heavenly creature, but as a mortal being, where we can interact with him. It also has answers that most of the other accounts could not even question. This is what stands the speechof Socrates and Diotima apart from most of the others. But, there were two other speeches that were also impressive and brought about points that Socrates did not make. These accounts were given by Aristophanes and Agathon. Through these three speeches, we can get a good picture of what eros is. Starting with the most complete account: Socrates and Diotima; and moving through Aristophanes and then Agathon, this paper will show why these accounts are superior, and why Socrates' makes the most sense. After Agathon's speech, it was Socrates' turn to present his account of eros. But before he does, he tells Agathon that his speech was marvelous and that at one time, Socrates also believed in what Agathon believed. That was until a women named Diotima taught him the real truth in eros. It is however, believed, that Socrates made up the character of Diotima, the reason, though, is unknown. In spite of this, Socrates gives a remarkable speech that is truly complete. One of the first misconceptions among all the speakers was the age of the god Lo... ...s right to them, may not seem correct to us, and this is a problem that arises with Agathon's speech. In the times of Socrates and Plato, eros was a much different word then it's translation: love. He have seen how love takes the shape of a god, and how it has influenced the evolution of human kind. In the "Symposium", Socrates gives the most sensible account of eros when he quotes Diotima , even though to this day, it is unclear whether Diotima was a fabrication to fit Socrates' needs when discussing love. The speech of Aristophanes was also worth noting, as he had brought up the point of human nature, the only speaker to do so. As well, Agathon had a very complete speech, he chose to describe the god Love in terms of his moral character and his virtues. These three accounts were the best of all that were offered. Socrates was the superior one to the other two, but nonetheless, the speeches of Aristophanes and Agathon were complete. Together, these three accounts form a very good picture of eros, one that shows every aspect of what eros truly is. Bibliography Nehamas, A. & Woodruff, P. "Symposium", Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1989

My Ambition to Become a Aeronautical Engineer

Aimless life is no lesser than a sin . Many people have no definite aim in life. They are like travellers going ahead without any destination. Someone has truly said that â€Å"Changes do not happen when circumstances improve it happens when we decide to change to ourselves . ’’Such people who lead an aimless life do not believe in hard work but, always depend on destiny. It is true that God has written our destiny but it is we who have to achieve it through hardwork.It is you, if you do not work efficiently you won’t achieve the best results of it. A person who has his goals set will never astray. He won’t be mislead by other temptations. He’ll be the master of his luck. He does not believe in destiny. He loves his work and he’ll be efficient towards it, and his energies won’t go waste. His health does not fail him. But, for people who have aimless lives won’t change his mood to change his track. If you have an ambition, you c an pursue it all your life and you are never tired.It drives you on and on quite tirelessly. It is necessary to decide in life that what you aspire to become. An engineer, a doctor, lawyer, scientist, philosopher or anything different from it. The whole world is open before a young man and he should make up his mind about his career/profession as soon as possible. Most of the people work to achieve money and fame, but why do people forget that they need to serve their country first. They need to pay their motherland.People should love their work. For them work should be their life. It is true that in this present world money is necessary but too much will pave a wrong path for you. That is why, I strongly desire to become an I. A. S. officer [Indian Administrative Service]. I want to thank my motherland first to give me such a beautiful land to live. I want to serve her upon my best. I know that an I. A. S. officer does not receive that amount of money to have luxurious lives.But I envisage that someone has truly said that â€Å"If your whole day has been good, then you are on the wrong path†. This means that if you have all the luxuries of life you will lose your simplicity and I being an officer want people to inspire from what I become. â€Å"Hate the sin, but not the sinner†. Do not ignore people who don’t be efficient towards their work, hate their habit. Atlast, I would only say that put up aims in your life at an early age, you’ll never astray and seek your aims with wonders and happiness of life.

A Critical Evaluation Of The Universal Nature Of Human Rights

A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE UNIVERSAL NATURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS INTRODUCTION Human Rights are the rights, that are considered to be inalienable, inseparable and vested upon individual by virtue of being human. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary defined the universal nature of Human Rights as ‘a right which is believed to belong to every person’. The aim of this essay is to critically evaluate the universal and relative nature of human rights postulated by the eminent scholars, who have argued on both the sides to arrive at a conclusion, whether the rights stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human rights are universal, relative or both. The idea behind this essay is to neutralize the interest of both the scholars. CONCEPT OF UNIVERSALITY The notion of universality of human rights is considered to play a significant role, as human rights are held ‘universally’ by all human beings. According to Jack Donnelly, ‘human rights are inviolable rights and are backed by world powers in international society’. Donnelly defends conceptual universality by stating that human rights are equal and inalienable by its definition, despite of the fact that there is no such evidence which shows that conceptual universality really exits. However, According to Goodhart, the question of ‘substantial universality’ of the rights mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains to be a major concern. 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