From the book
Symposium
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordGeneration is followed by cooperative education and care, not merely by possession of a product.
- In the SymposiumThe beautiful companion is not a wholly passive container: after the lover generates what he has long carried, they rear it together.
- Reading contextThe beautiful companion is not a wholly passive container: after the lover generates what he has long carried, they rear it together.
- A place to readEncounter, educational speech, birth, memory and common nurture form a sustained relationship.
Meaning
Generation is followed by cooperative education and care, not merely by possession of a product.
Use in the book
The beautiful companion is not a wholly passive container: after the lover generates what he has long carried, they rear it together. Diotima grounds the strength of their partnership in their more beautiful and more immortal children. The claim is her comparative valuation of educational relationships, not a universal empirical proof that every intellectual friendship lasts longer than every family.
Places to read
βέβαιος (bebaios)
bebaios — Firm or secure.
- 209c — φιλίαν βεβαιοτέραν. The friendship is said to be firmer because of the kind of children shared.
Read: Common nurture.
κοινωνία (koinōnia)
koinōnia — Partnership or sharing, here founded on common psychic offspring.
- 209c — πολὺ μείζω κοινωνίαν. Diotima calls their partnership much greater than that concerning bodily children.
Read: Common nurture.
συνεκτρέφω (synektrephō)
synektrephō — To rear together, an active joint care for what has been generated.
- 209c — συνεκτρέφει κοινῇ. The pregnant lover and the companion rear the offspring in common.
Read: Common nurture.