From the book
Symposium
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordKinship language gives the learner a way of recognizing related beauties beyond one beloved instance.
- In the SymposiumThe sibling comparison precedes the judgement that bodily beauty is one and the same across all bodies.
- Reading contextThe sibling comparison precedes the judgement that bodily beauty is one and the same across all bodies.
- A place to readBodily beauties are recognized as siblings.
Meaning
Kinship language gives the learner a way of recognizing related beauties beyond one beloved instance.
Use in the book
The sibling comparison precedes the judgement that bodily beauty is one and the same across all bodies. The kindred predicate then helps the transition through practices and laws. These are steps in widening and reordering attention. They do not themselves state that the final beautiful is simply a collective family made from adding all attractive things together.
Places to read
ἀδελφός (adelphos)
adelphos — Brother or sibling; metaphorically the close relation among bodily beauties.
- 210a–210b — ἀδελφόν. Beauty on one body is brother to beauty on another.
Read: Kindred beauties.
συγγενής (syngenēs)
syngenēs — Kindred or of common kin.
- 210c — συγγενές. Beauty in ways of life and laws is recognized as kindred with itself.
Read: Kindred beauties.