In the Symposium Plato establishes the measure for all theories and forms of love by distinguishing the difference between its appearance and its reality. He states that love has its perfect form and its imperfect appearance, stating that, it is the perfect form that is both the goal and the true reality. Plato, through Socrates, describes love as the desire for something that is lacking, meaning that the desire of love is for the inaccessible or absent. He continues by expressing the dialectical notion that love is neither attractive and good, nor repulsive or bad because it is in the middle ground. Love is between attractive-good and repulsive-bad as true belief is the middle ground between knowledge and ignorance. The experience of both aspects of love is crucial in order to find a harmony where love is a lover of love, not an object of it. Plato's theory states that the objective of love is the permanent possession of goodness for oneself and this goal is achieved through natural science and human science methods. When hierarchically organized the lower forms of love, which can also be identified as ordinary love or beautification, seek immortality with love through physical means such as procreation. The higher forms of love, which can be categorized with special love and refinement, focus on intellectual endeavours and the absolute beauty of knowledge, as well as the wisdom to teach and educate as a means of achieving immortality with love. Thus, Plato's theory provides two orientations of love that must both be recognized to form a healthy harmony that strives for the higher forms of special (human science) love, without denying the lower forms of ordinary (natural science) love. ...
