Plato Symposium: Part 2

Today I finished the Symposium. I didn't find the second half as enjoyable as the first. I found the material harder to grasp, maybe because it didn't speak as much to the more romantic and modern ideas of love.

Even though I didn't understand everything Socrates said in his speech to love his view seemed to be less positive than the speeches that took place before him. I did like the way he started his speech. He asked a series of questions to prove a point before he started. Getting others involved seemed like a good strategy to me. However, overall I found his ideas about love much less appealing. Maybe they were more true, but I prefer a fantastical view of love; like the views expressed by the other guests at the party. Socrates does know what he's doing though when I comes to public speaking he does know how to capture his audience even if what he says is sometimes hard to understand.

I also found the character of Alcibiades to be very interesting. He seemed to speak ill of Socrates and then in his speech praise him. Altogether he seemed a little bit of a different type of character from the others at the party. It was also an interesting discussion of the idea of homosexual love and overall the discussion of Socrates, while it seemed a little off from all the discussions it was indeed interesting. The ending seemed a little hurried and a little but of a let down, but overall, even though I stumbled sometimes, I did enjoy the discussions that took place in the book.