Socrates’ vision of the good life According to Socrates in Plato’s Symposium, the goal of a good life is to constantly seek the true form of Beauty. As Diotima explains, “…there if anywhere should a person live his life, beholding that Beauty.” This, according to Diotima, is the only way to attain a truly good life, for “only then will it become possible for him to give birth not to images of virtue….but true virtue”. How does Socrates’ idea of “the good life” differ from the norms of Greek society (as expressed by the other characters in the text)? Based on the text, do you think that Socrates succeeded in convincing any of the other characters to live in accordance with these ideas?
