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Definition of Love According to Plato’s “Symposium,” love is something in between mortal and immortal. It is one of the spirits that is located between the gods and humans. Therefore, its responsibility is to transport divine things to men and human things to the gods. Also, it transports requitals as well as ordinances from above to humans and sacrifices and entreaties from humans to the ones above. One could easily confuse it with a communication channel between men and their gods. In other words, men do not mingle directly with their gods. However, the element of love acts as the mediator, making the two parties supplement each other and combine to become one. Love serves as the bridge between the gods and man since man believes that there is a significant distance between them and the gods (White, 2015). Therefore, Plato does not consider love to be a god; neither is it the absence of beautiful and good things. Instead, it is the greatest of spirits between mortal and divine. Another description of love according to Plato’s “Symposium” is that it is something directed to what is fair. This is because Plato considers love as something between ignorant and wise since its origin consists of an unwise and resourceless mother and a wise and resourceful father. In other words, love plays a neutral party or the mediator in every circumstance. The Object of Love Since love plays a neutral party, being neither or good or beautiful nor is it bad or ugly, the object of love is to give birth and procreate in the presence of beauty. From Plato’s argument, love desires to possess what is beautiful. However, it already possesses this attribute, and it makes it its objective to help in the attainment of good things. Therefore, love is the greatest helper of human nature by enabling procreation in the presence of beauty. Plato uses the example of philosopher to emphasise the need for love to procreate in the presence of beauty (White, 2015). The philosopher ought not to be just the midwife assisting in the birth of ideas. Instead, the philosopher should take up the responsibility of examining the new ideas for soundness and produce one of his own. Plato insists that the idea of philosophers acting as midwives to ideas can only be of intrinsic worth when they assist the philosophers to develop theories of their own. In simple terms, someone who claims to be a genuine lover of wisdom must also be able to conceive and bear some wisdom of his own. Such is the object of love; because it possesses beauty, it also ensures that procreation and giving of birth in the presence of beauty. The Activity of Love The primary activity of love is for one to seek their other half whenever they are in love. However, Plato concisely states that love is neither for whole or half unless what is being pursued is something good. Despite Plato implying love to be a neutral party in all circumstances, people who are in love act differently. For instance, they pursue beautiful things and ignore the bad, they want wise things and avoid the ignorant, and are willing to have their limbs chopped off if they feel their belongings are harmful (Sheffield, 2016). This leads to man only cherishing his belongings when they are good, and when their property is bad, it becomes another’s. Men tend to love only the good and disassociate with the bad. Therefore, the activity of love is to guide men towards meeting their other half that they see as beautiful or good.

Love’s Completing Work Love completes its work is when it is sure that it has a new creature left behind to replace the old. This is because man is mortal and having the next generation is the only way to succeed. Man can, therefore just be alive and stay the same for a limited time (Brooks, 2019). As his time advances so do his property and possessions change and he becomes a different or new person. When a person begins to lose some of his things and appearances such as body, bones, flesh, and hair begin to change, it is a sign that love has completed its work. In simple terms, Plato’s definition of love, to its object, and activity leads to its completion when it falls under what the philosopher outlines as the process. Thus, the work of love is complete when there is a generation of new creatures to replace the old or those ageing out. Steps to becoming an Accomplished Lover According to Plato’s “Symposium”, the first step towards becoming an accomplished lover is knowing what love is; a mediator or middle ground between man and the gods. The person then has to engage in the activity of love which is to find the other half (Payne, 2019). Usually, the other half must meet the seeker’s standards of good and beautiful for love to be considered to have played a part in their meeting. After that, a person has an obligation to give birth or procreate in the presence of beauty also known as achieving the object of love. However, as long as the other half of a person is good and beautiful then the presence of beauty, love’s obligation, is automatically achieved. The realisation of this step also secures the next phase which is ensuring that there is a new creature to replace the old. A lover is only accomplished when he undergoes all these steps.