An analysis of myth and love in Lucretius's "De Rerum Natura" and Plato's "Symposium".
Written in 2006; 2,833 words; 0 sources; $ 84.95
Paper Summary:
The focal point of Epicurean philosophy is often defined as the pursuit of pleasure and how this common misconception has led some intellectuals to criticize Epicurean philosophy as a hopelessly hedonistic attempt to satisfy unending desires. It analyzes how Lucretius's answer to the problem of unending desires in his "De Rerum Natura" is the lack of satisfaction itself. It also examines how the same type of confusion and misconception is depicted in another ancient author's work, Plato's "Symposium". Instead of only being confused about what pleasure is, no one else in the dialogue except Socrates can explain what love and pleasure are.
From the Paper:
"Socrates use of myth becomes the perfect catalyst to introduce his radical idea of what love is. Every other speech before his only praised love and the need to love as beautiful and nothing but wonderful. In fact, Eryximachus and Aristophanes have defined love through only the good feelings of being in love. If I boiled down Aristophanes's speech boiled down in one sentence, it would read "How beautiful it is when the two halves of a lover unite." Socrates must convincingly show how wrong this popular concept of love as beautiful is since everybody else has mistaken the promise of love for love itself, just as Lucretius faces the daunting task of exposing Roman traditional pious values for what they truly are, burdens. "
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