" Entirely related secondhand by Aristodemus, its central figure claims his mentor is not Hekataeus or Parmenides but Diotima, who presents a doctrine whereby Beauty is the child of Love and Philosophy.
The theory of the aesthetic outlined by Iris Murdoch in The Fire and the Sun is based on the one in this work, which Murdoch calls "the first serious enquiry into literary theory." Entirely related secondhand by Aristodemus, its central figure claims his mentor is not Hekataeus or Parmenides but Diotima, who presents a doctrine whereby Beauty is the child of Love and Philosophy. That leads to a discussion of poetic inspiration and whether the same playwright can write comedy and tragedy; Agathon, who hosts the title event, maintains he cannot. Famed for Aristophanes' parable of humankind's descent from a race of 4-legged hermaphrodites, FTP, identify this Platonic dialogue whose name means "cooperative drinking."
The theory of the aesthetic outlined by Iris Murdoch in The Fire and the Sun is based on the one in this work, which Murdoch calls "the first serious enquiry into literary theory.
{Symposium}