WHY DOES DIOTIMA REVEAL THE TRUTH OF EROS?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the originality both of Plato’s Diotimaargumentation and of her philosophical teaching of Eros. Firstly, I will attempt to elucidate the“neither…nor” form of Diotima’s argumentation. Then I will interpret the philosophical meaningof her myth of the origin of Eros. The further question is concerned with the reasons of qualifyingEros’ aims always in the terms of good and beautiful. Moreover, by criticizing the contemporaryinterpretations on three aims of Eros, I will try to support my own view of how they interrelate.Eventually, the relation between the various kinds of Eros and the beautiful will be interpreted. Inso doing, it shall be shown that the metaphysics of Beauty reveals the deeper meaning of Plato’sDiotima erotology.