Plato describes “a ladder of love” in The Symposium. What effect does this suggestion have in the larger context of definitions of sexuality? How does the setting of the play contribute to these ideas about sex and knowledge? How have these ideas changed?

The intersection of knowledge and sexuality that is explored in The Symposium highlights its great sense of possibility when looking at it on a comparative with the contemporary institution of education. The play expands its readers’ conception of what sexuality encompasses by structuring a hierarchy of love; and this constitutes the central idea of this essay, which is that knowledge and sexuality are inextricably linked in a way that modern systems of learning fail to appreciate.

In a somewhat meta strain of analysis, the simple choice to situate the play itself at a dinner party characterized by drinking, eating and, quite plainly, relishing the evening, powerfully sheds light on how crucial Plato regards sensory pleasures to be to the provocative exhortations about love that define the play.  “You seem, my friends, to be sober, which is a thing not to be endured; you must drink,” (p. 145) Socrates tells us, in what can only be described as a wonderfully friendly, animated manner. Both through such dialogue, and an exposition of bickering and banter, Plato sets the stage for the historic intellectual discourse that will endure for thousands of years and shape our understandings of love and sex by emphasizing an atmosphere of informality. Yet, it is one steeped in respect and delight in debate.  The process of sharing differing points of view is as engaging and educative as ones in rigid academic journals (in fact, it is almost certainly more so in The Symposium) but, it is free of any excessive regimentation. The drinks flow freely, and so does the discourse.

This idea of liberalness in education becomes particularly essential when it is weighed against today’s structures of learning. The transmission of knowledge is barely looked at like the unique, definitive experience that it is; rather, it is a standardized process tailored to teach conformity and collectivity. By teaching everyone the same content that is prescribed by the state and is stiflingly inflexible, the ecstasy of learning is stamped out. Plato would be horrified to see the santisation of education through board examinations and rote memorization which leaves no room for divergent thinking and experiential learning.

It is my contention, however, that the most prominent distinction between the antecedent mode of education and today’s is the diminished importance given to the student-teacher dynamic. The primary focus of going to school tends to be socialization with the student’s peer group, not a one-on-one relationship between a mentor and a mentee. In the case of The Symposium, the love between the student and the teacher is deemed essential to the communication of knowledge,  a love that is largely absent here because of the depersonalized status of education. This is integral to how we view knowledge: in our ‘modern’ classrooms, we see sexuality as diametrically opposed to learning because of the deindividuation of what we learn and the distance that exists between a teacher and their students. This distance is defined by some shallow construct of ‘professionalism’ and ensuring a separation between substantive teaching and the passionate passing on of a legacy of beliefs, arguments and points of view. However, this separation is nowhere in Plato’s worldview. Instead, there is the idea that the experience of obtaining or passing on knowledge is a profoundly personal one, and is predicated upon a relationship that is highly intimate in nature. 

Through the mechanics of a mentor-mentee bond, specific and singular ideations can be communicated and immortalized, which is not to disregard the importance of discussion and dissent (which continue to exist in Plato’s paradigm), but on the contrary it is to privilege particular wisdom over generalized and misguided internalization of the ‘basics.’ To prioritise these ideas that mentors have, though, is to work within the framework of the ‘ladder of love’ which suggests that “wisdom is a most beautiful thing, and Love is of the beautiful; and therefore Love is also a philosopher or lover of wisdom, and being a lover of wisdom is in a mean between the wise and the ignorant.” Plato explains love as a journey, a progression, and a phenomenon of maturation. Diotima’s views repurpose the axiomatic ‘falling’ in love to suggest ‘climbing’ up to love instead. The movement upwards on the ladder is marked by a transition from appreciating one body, to all bodies, to the fact that “he will consider that the beauty of the mind is more honourable than the beauty of the outward form,” and then ultimately this will all coalesce in an overarching love and true appreciation for all theory, science, culture, rhetoric, and so on. This development is relevant for two reasons – first, because its infrastructure necessitates one person as a mentor navigating the younger mentee through this journey, an idea explored above through the emphasis of a single relationship, and second because this line of thinking expands the definition of sexuality and what truly falls under its umbrella.

The second idea is one that is touched upon even in the Kama Sutra, wherein the mastery of the sixty-four Panchalas is a significant facet of being a desirable suitor. Or, in Venus and Adonis, the generally insipid character Adonis’ petulant attempts to draw boundaries between love and lust is a restriction that does not hold even in the poem itself, suggesting that sexuality is everything that we construct it to be and more. This multiplicity of sexuality works with a sapiosexual lens of knowledge, desire, and love that is so fascinating in The Symposium. The valorization of “purity” in education over expansiveness and depth, as well as the imposition of rules in relationships of learning are disappointing facts of contemporary schooling. While there may be organizational efficiency in the present model, I believe that in knowledge, there is “beauty absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting” that is lost in regimentation. A return to a truly ‘liberal’ education is one which would imply sensory stimulation, a meaningful bond between the mentor and mentee, and of course, desire, sex, and love. It is worthy to consider what we are missing out on.