Alcibíades e a rima entre amor e dor

Abstract

This article aims to resume one of the pseudepigraphic writings of Hippocrates, especially the Letter 17, to approach the amorous relationship of Socrates and Alcibiades, thinking each one of these characters as driven by different kinds of madness (mania) and affection (pathos). I do not intend here to stablish a mere opposition between these two characters of the Symposium, but to show how Plato incorporates and revalues in the writing of this dialogue the actual movement between different dimensions of the psyche, found both in the speech of Socrates/Diotima as in the praise of the everlasting lover of Socrates. The counterpoint I propose involves the notion of self-care, placed in the dichotomy ‘excess’ (hybris) and ‘understanding’ (dianoia).