The mysterious priestess of Mantinea whom Socrates credits with teaching him about eros in Plato's Symposium — whether historical or fictional — whose account of love's ascent from beautiful bodies to the Form of Beauty Itself is the most important Platonic text on eros.
Provides the account of eros as philosophical ascent — the ladder of love moving from love of one beautiful body to love of all bodies, to love of souls, to love of practices, to love of knowledge, to the final vision of Beauty Itself — making eros the philosophical energy that drives the ascent from the sensory to the eternal.
Discussing
Ask anything about Diotima — their ideas, influences, contradictions, legacy.
Sign in to start a conversation.