Greek Priestess and Teacher of Socrates
ca. 400 B.C
Plato's work Diotima details the transformation of Socrate's conception of love, and the female known as Diotima stands as one of the most influential thinkers ever.
Although the very existence of Diotima is in question, her influence on Socrate's is not. As she says, first we are moved by the beauty of the youthful body. Then, we start to see beauty in all bodies. Next, we proceed to look at the beauty of the soul. Once this last step is complete, man starts to see the beauty in all laws and the structure of everything. The final discovery is beauty of the forms, the ideal forms of everything.
Diotima explains that even if our conception of beauty changes, our conception of the laws does not.
In addition, her conception of love is quite novel because Diomtima posits that we cannot conceive the divine ideas of Socrates, just like we cannot approach love. If we even come close to perceiving love, the factual knowledge of it distracts us and we miss the deeper meaning of the emotion.
This idea is clearer when applied to laws. We can never know the ideal form of justice, however, we can implement laws in practice towards reaching this goal. In the same manner, we can only know love and its practical use.
Diotima believes knowledge can be found in many ways (like the senses, perception, etc.) with love perhaps the ultimate way.
Other sources of information
The Window-Diotima
Diotima: Women and Gender in the Ancient World
Diotima
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