The Idea of Bodily Desire

Socrates, in Plato's work "Symposium", introduces the ladder of love through his conversation with the God-like figure, Diotima. The more knowledge about love one gains, the higher they climb and the less they focus on physical beauty. After Socrates has explained these concepts, Alcibiades steps in. He is confused because he himself is in love with philosophy, but he is also lost in bodily desire. According to the ideology of Socrates as expressed in Plato's work "Symposium" the musician girl from Mehta's "A River Sutra" is at the bottom of Diotima's ladder because she is so entirely infatuated and obsessed with the love of physical beauty, and not Socrates ideal, which is love of wisdom. In the same way, one might say that also Alcibiades is lost in bodily desire at the bottom of the ladder.
In Diotima's Speech, Socrates explains that Love is neither wise nor beautiful, but is rather the desire for wisdom and beauty; "love is wanting to possess the......

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Title: The Idea Of Bodily Desire
Approximate Word Count: 1611
Approximate Pages: 7 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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