During his final speech to praise love in Plato's Symposium, Socrates describes many aspects of the true nature of Love and the objects of Love's desires. By systematically contradicting and invalidating the preceding arguments, Socrates establishes a contrast between the ideas of love and beauty; love being the state of pursuing a goal, while beauty is the goal itself.
Prior to Socrates' speech, the general consensus among the attendants at the party is that Love is a beautiful god who loves good people and things. Socrates first seeks to invalidate the view of his host, Agathon, by posing many questions to his friend. Agathon's somewhat simplistic definition of Love as the desire for beautiful people and things, coupled with his concession that a man only "desires what is not at hand and is not present," (42-43) forces him to admit that Love cannot be beautiful if he desires beauty.
English: The School of Athens (detail). Fresco, St...
Portrait of Socrates. Marble, Roman artwork (1st c...
The "obscene" medieval depiction of Socrates and P...Socrates also establishes good as synonymous with beautiful. This leads to the similar argument that Love cannot be good if he also desires that which is good. After Socrates effectively contradicts these former arguments by forcing Agathon to admit to the inherent flaws in his own reasoning, he begins to establish his own view of love.
Socrates attempts to correct the flawed arguments of his peers by addressing Love's desire for beauty and good. While he reiterates his argument that Love can be neither good nor beautiful, he also argues that the converse is not true, that being that Love is both bad and ugly. Love, instead, takes an intermediate position between these extremes, and ultimately is found to be a transition between many other limits. Since all gods are known to be wholly beautiful and good, Love cannot be a God, yet Love is not considered a mortal either.