Looking at one's own navel

the justice of Zeus in Plato's Symposium

Abstract

Aristophanes’ encomium, in the Platonic Symposium, attributes the cause for humans’ sexual orientation to the reparation undertaken by Zeus in response to the pride of mortals. Thus, Eros is the deity responsible for promoting the meeting of two halves that were originally together and then constituted as a unity. However, not all love relationships are morally appropriate, in other words, not all types of sexual expression are virtuous and, therefore, despite the fact that Eros is present in all forms of love, it seems that divine wrath has caused greater misfortune for androgynous and females. In this sense, taking the Aristophanic encomium to Eros as a backdrop, I will analyse the extent to which Zeus' justice defines the different behaviours among mortals that indelibly trigger social inequalities. In fact, by making the cut, Zeus forever prevents a second human revolt, because if they don't recognize each other as equals, the individuals of a society will not be able to unite for a common good, namely the dethronement of the gods.