Plato's Symposium Aristophanes

Words: 508
Pages: 3

In Plato’s Symposium, Aristophanes reveals that to live a human life is to confront the fact that one has been completely abandoned in this world and the tools one is left with are deeply insufficient for surviving here. Therefore, human beings inherently seek completeness, unity and wholeness. Eros is our pursuit of wholeness; the human search for love is a desperate attempt to feel whole again.
In Aristophanes’ speech, he uses the allegory of primitive beings to explain this soul-deep yearning. Aristophanes explains that humans were originally two parts to one whole being before they were violently separated and cursed to spend eternity finding themselves. Humans aren’t simply looking for a partner but a missing puzzle piece. For example,