Diotima of Mantinea
Diotima of Mantinea is a major figure in Plato's Symposium. The Symposium is the dialogue set during an all night banquet where the participants decide to examine the concept of Love. It should be noted that no women are present at the banquet. This is a 'men only' view of the topic.
It is interesting that Socrates, the one who is the figure of THE PHILOSOPHER, is the person who introduces the ideas of a woman philosopher.
The speakers introduce most of the major theories about Love. Then, finally, Socrates speaks and he tells of an encounter with a priestess, Diotima of Mantinea, who taught him the meaning of Love.
He repeats her teaching with its linking of Love and Beauty and the human soul ascending a ladder of the human perfection in love.
In Plato's Symposium, Socrates says that Diotima was a seer or priestess who, in his youth, taught him "the philosophy of love". Socrates also claims that Diotima successfully postponed the plague of Athens.
Her name has often been used as a moniker for philosophical or artistic projects, journals, essays, etc.: German poet Friedrich Holiderlin used the pen name Diotima as a moniker for Susette Borkenstein Gontard, who inspired him to write Hyperion. In this work, the fictitious first-person author Hyperion addresses letters to his friends Bellarmin and Diotima.
Diotima of Mantinea is a major figure in Plato's Symposium. The Symposium is the dialogue set during an all night banquet where the participants decide to examine the concept of Love. It should be noted that no women are present at the banquet. This is a 'men only' view of the topic.
It is interesting that Socrates, the one who is the figure of THE PHILOSOPHER, is the person who introduces the ideas of a woman philosopher.
The speakers introduce most of the major theories about Love. Then, finally, Socrates speaks and he tells of an encounter with a priestess, Diotima of Mantinea, who taught him the meaning of Love.
He repeats her teaching with its linking of Love and Beauty and the human soul ascending a ladder of the human perfection in love.
In Plato's Symposium, Socrates says that Diotima was a seer or priestess who, in his youth, taught him "the philosophy of love". Socrates also claims that Diotima successfully postponed the plague of Athens.
Her name has often been used as a moniker for philosophical or artistic projects, journals, essays, etc.: German poet Friedrich Holiderlin used the pen name Diotima as a moniker for Susette Borkenstein Gontard, who inspired him to write Hyperion. In this work, the fictitious first-person author Hyperion addresses letters to his friends Bellarmin and Diotima.
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