![]() Most of the symposium guests view love as something that’s oriented toward mortal life in some way. By structuring the work around ascending forms of love, Plato argues that immortality, only achievable through philosophy’s continual quest for truth, is the overarching goal of human life, though not every human being will choose to pursue it. ![]() But embedded in the very structure of Plato’s dialogue is a gradual progression from more worldly conceptions of love to more exalted ones-a progression that’s echoed by Diotima’s higher mysteries at the end of Socrates’s speech, when she describes a ladder of progress to immortality. One of the Symposium’s most interesting features is the fact that earthly indulgence-a drinking party characterized by erotic overtones-provides the setting for philosophical contemplation. ![]()
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