Phaedrus

Socrates praises the writing and wording of Lysias’s speech but can’t take the subject matter seriously. He praises only the style and not the content of the speech, taking it to be a rhetorical exercise rather than a serious argument in favor of the non-lover. Though Phaedrus believes that the speech is indeed a thorough treatment of the subject, Socrates hints that there are other writers who have written far better arguments opposing Lysias’s point of view in the past.

Socrates concedes that the lover is in a less “healthy” mental state than the non-lover, but that such ideas (e.g., “love is a sickness”) are commonplace, and that to be persuasive one must argue less obvious positions. Phaedrus urges Socrates to deliver such a speech, and while Socrates is playfully reluctant at first, he agrees.

He delivers the speech with his face covered, beginning with an invocation to the Muses. He asks the reader to imagine a young man with many admirers, including one who argues, as did Lysias’s speech, that he should be favored, since he is not in love. Socrates then speaks in the voice of this admirer, saying that when discussing anything, we must define what we are speaking about to avoid misunderstandings and confusion. We must then begin with a definition of love— and only then can we determine whether love is good or harmful.

Socrates states that there are two main impulses which govern our actions: a desire for pleasure and a desire for “excellence.” Sometimes these are in agreement and sometimes they are opposed. The first is irrational and the second is rational; the first leads to “excess” and the second to self-control. “Love” in particular is defined as the “irrational desire for pleasure derived from beauty.”

A lover will try to gain the greatest pleasure possible from the person he loves. Since that is his primary goal, it will be preferable to him for his partner to be less wise than him, less observant, less discerning. Even if his partner is not inferior to him in these ways to begin with, it will be in his interest to encourage those weaknesses so that he can exploit his partner to his own ends. Additionally, he will be jealous of others and so deprive his partner of association or friendship with other people. This becomes particularly harmful when he is deprived of friendships or relationships that will help develop his character or his intelligence. A lover would fear his partner becoming wiser and more rational, as this might cause him to leave him or rethink their relationship. The lover, therefore, is the worst possible companion for his partner.

Socrates details how a man under the influence of love will incur debts that he cannot repay once he comes to his senses. In conclusion, it is far better to become involved with a non-lover, who will not disrupt his partner’s intellectual or spiritual development and will allow him to learn important lessons from other people. Love is, in the end, no different than an appetite for food, and “There is no kindness in the friendship of a lover” (41).