Britannica Sources used in this answer

How did Plato’s Symposium contribute to the idea of Platonic love?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

The Greek philosopher Plato — Plato Plato, marble portrait bust copied from an original of the 4th century bce; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Plato’s Symposium is the foundational text for the concept of Platonic love, though the term itself evolved significantly over time. In the dialogue, the character Socrates recounts the teachings of the priestess Diotima, who describes love (eros) as a ladder of spiritual ascent.123

This metaphorical ladder begins with physical attraction to a single beautiful body but progresses through stages of increasing abstraction:
* Desire for all beautiful bodies.
* Love for beautiful souls.
* Appreciation for beautiful laws and institutions.
* Devotion to the beauty of knowledge.
* The ultimate goal: love for absolute, eternal Beauty itself.12

By emphasizing this progression toward a transcendent, non-physical ideal, the Symposium provided the philosophical basis for defining love as a spiritual rather than carnal pursuit. In the 15th century, the theologian Marsilio Ficino coined the term amor platonicus, interpreting this ascent through a Christian lens as a union of souls directed toward the divine. Over subsequent centuries, the term shifted from this lofty spiritual ideal to its modern usage, describing affectionate, non-sexual relationships between individuals.12