The structure as well as the themes of theSymposiumsuggest that Eryximachus’ speech plays a fundamental role in the dialogue. The problem is that what he says in praise of love is far from clear and continues to be a subject of debate. The aim of our article is to re-examine this speech to clarify its meaning and determine its contribution to Plato’s theory of love. First, we will analyse thetextof theSymposium, then we will investigate itsmedicalback-ground, and finally we will evaluate (...) itsphilosophicalimpact. We will argue that Eryximachus’ speech, which draws inspiration from the Hippocratic Collection and the Pre-Socratic thought, is based on the concept of ‘harmony’: a balanced and organised unity of opposites. According to Eryximachus, love – conceived of as harmony – is the key to thehealthand thevirtueof human beings, as well as to the cosmic order and justice. Thereby the specificity of Eryximachus’ speech will become clear: Plato tries to combinescienceandmoralityby proposing, among other things, some considerations onbioethics. (shrink)

I argue in this paper that Gorgias’ Helen has a didactic element that has been overlooked by contemporary critique. I show in section I that Gorgias’ presents a commonsensical pattern of argumentation (the Gods and physical violence) to prepare the reader to the following digressions on logos and on love. I analyze in section II the argument on logos and argue that its reasoning structure depends on the two previous arguments, i.e., that Gorgias transforms logos into a sort of violence. (...) I argue in section III that the argument on love depends on the same transformation. In the end, I show that Helen is both a coherent and a didactic speech. (shrink)

La investigación se inscribe dentro de un movimiento que busca poner de relieve la pertinencia de textos poéticos para la comprensión de los diálogos de Platón. En este caso, se parte de la comunidad de la expresión “el jardín de Zeus” en la Pítica 9 de Píndaro y en el Discurso de Diotima en el Banquete. Primero, se presenta un esquema temático de los dos textos. Luego, se ofrece un recorrido en tres etapas: el paso del deseo a la mediación, (...) el estudio de la figura del mediador, y la apertura de la mediación al ámbito metapoético y lo que se sigue de ello. En la primera etapa se muestra cómo Eros dirige a la inmortalidad por medio de la generación, que se guía por la virtud en su condición más noble, al instituirse la ciudad, a la vez que, en el diálogo entre Apolo, enamorado de Cirene, y Quirón, se identifican los mismos pasos de una pulsión erótica que conduce a lo cívico. En la segunda etapa se destaca la tarea mediadora de Quirón ante Apolo, semejante a la relación de Diotima con Sócrates; esta mediación de Quirón produce un nuevo ámbito, que lleva su impronta, por lo que se entiende que la mediación de Diotima haya generado al filósofo erótico Sócrates, también ahora mediador. En la tercera etapa se muestra cómo franquea el sabio la diferencia entre los tiempos divino y humano mediante la creación metapoética, cuya consumación poética y filosofica es la constitución de la ciudad bella. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Luce Irigaray has devoted considerable energy to wrestling with some key figures in twentieth-century phenomenology. Since the topic for this special issue is the relationship between phenomenology and ancient philosophy, I plan in the following to look at Irigaray’s reading of Plato, given the centrality of carnality, sexuation and embodiment, not just to her own project, but the manner in which she invokes the same notions as part of her critique of Plato along with a number of twentieth-century phenomenologists.