ond that of Phaedrus and introduces the duality of love. Heintroduces Heavenly Aphrodite (heavenly love), which this writer believes equates withhomosexual love, and Common Aphrodite (common love), which would be equivalent toheterosexual love. Common love according to his view is one that is based on sensuality andproduces children. Heavenly love is based on companionship and involves mental and souloriented pursuits. He places a great deal of emphasis on virtue. He goes on to say that heavenlylove is good and only becomes ugly if a lover’s motive is exploitation. Pausanias has brought outone of Diotima’s major points, the idea of duality in love, although he is not as thorough. Hisoverall outlook seems to be mainly homosexual, yet recognizes heterosexual love.Next, Eryximachus speaks. He compliments Pausanias on his explanation of the dualnature of love and argues that there should be a balance between the two. He elaborates on thatby saying both types are required for a peaceful existence; one can not exist with out the other. He uses an analogy that equates love with an ailment. It can be removed or implanted. Basicallyhe alludes to a bond or bridge between the two types of love which Diotima expands on.Aristophanes finally gets rid of his hiccups. He attempts to explain love by introducing amyth in which Zeus splits three types of beings, therefore explaining female to female, male tomale and female to male love. The suggestion here is that each single person is always in searchof their other half, thus reuniting to become one soul to reach the forms. Here is the firstmention/ recognition of Lesbianism. The view that is stated love is that is the desire foressence/forms a unity to meet heaven.The springboard for Plato’s theory of the forms is the speech of Agathon. The focus ofthis speech is that of justice, moderation and wisdom. Stating love is the way by which all livingthings are created or pr...
