Socrates was gay

Other ancients such as Socrates argued in Xenophon 's Symposium that Achilles and Patroclus were simply close friends. Aeschylus in the tragedy Myrmidons made Achilles the erastes since he had avenged his lover's death even though the gods told him it would cost his own life. Almost everyone mentions how great male homosexuality is, especially between older and younger men, and there's an awesome speech about how straight, gay and lesbian orientations were caused by the gods messing with a three gender system.

In the dialogue called Gorgias, Socrates declares that he is against all kinds of excessive sexual acts, and in Plato's main work, The State, Socrates even rejects all kinds of physical contact as some sort of unbridled behavior: the good lover treats his beloved one as a father treats his son. In the Platonism revival of the Florentine Renaissance, the high-minded picture of Platonic/Socratic love focused on the spiritual and intellectual perfection of the beloved, but in an alternative ancient tradition Socrates was presented as a sexual enthusiast, with a penchant for attractive boys.

Socrates seemed to have similar views on sex to those of his peers, but he was faithful to his wife and avoided homosexual encounters. Was Socrates Gay? Magnus phil. Reply Mon 1 Feb, am. I hope I don't get banned for bringing up this topic. But, I really want to talk about his personal life with his fellow philosophers. It seems to me that he enjoyed their physical companionship as well as the mental stimulation of his male friends.

When I brought it up in school, the teacher just bipassed the topic, saying that nobody knows wink wink, and that it doesn't matter. I think it does matter because the truths he came to recognize came from personal companionship with his consorts. Also, I think he was killed for corrupting the minds of the youth due to this main factor and not his philosophical beliefs.

plato symposium homosexuality

That is not something I strongly believe, but I would like to discuss it further. Stumble It! Reply Mon 1 Feb, pm. Magnus phil,. Didymos Thomas.

Pepijn Sweep. Didymos Thomas,. Didymos Thomas; wrote: People were terrified, Socrates could be unsettling. He refused to compromise his method to appease their fearful state, and so he was condemned to death. Didymos Thomas; wrote: Socrates was killed because he had the courage to ask difficult questions. Under Pericles, a man like Socrates could practice his method of discourse, his often times unsettling manner of investigation.

After the plague, in which Pericles perished, Athens was in a state of shock and disorder - they had, not only the aftermath of the devastating Peloponnesian War, but also a plague that decimated the city's population. People were terrified, Socrates could be unsettling. Pepijn Sweep,. Pyrrho; wrote: Some of the so-called students of Socrates were involved in treasonous activities against Athens e.

See: Trial of Socrates - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It is quite possible that that is the real reason why they killed him, though it is difficult to say definitively without official records of what happened. He refused because he held that he had a duty to obey even an unjust law. See Plato's dialogue, Crito where this issue is discussed at length. What is interesting is that he was arrested, and condemned to death because he would not obey the law.

This view is defended by Socrates in Plato's Apology. So in one dialogue, Socrates defends his breaking an unjust law which forbids him to teach his views. But, tnen, later, he defends obeying an unjust law which condemned him to death. And important part of understanding Socrates is how these contrary views can be reconciled.