Augustine and Diotima: Comparing Concepts of Love
This paper examines the striking similarities between Augustine's conception of love, as illustrated through his depiction of his mother Monica in the Confessions, and Diotima's account of love in Plato's Symposium. Both frameworks understand love not as a mere feeling or possession of the beautiful, but as a dynamic process of engendering — a holy union between the human soul and the ultimate source of goodness. The paper traces how Monica embodies Diotima's principle that love is "of the good's being one's own always," while acknowledging the key distinction that Augustine's vision is grounded in Christian theology, whereas Diotima speaks from a pre-Christian, philosophical tradition.
- Introduction: Love as Union with the Good: Thesis: Augustine and Diotima share a vision of love
- Love as Engendering: Diotima and Monica: Monica as embodiment of love's engendering power
- The Core Difference: Christian vs. Pagan Conceptions: Christian versus pre-Christian frameworks for love
- Love as Other-Centered: Monica's Example: Monica's outward-directed, self-giving love
- Monica's Love and Augustine's Conversion: How Monica's love enabled Augustine's conversion
- Conclusion: A Shared Vision of Love: Both thinkers see love as holy, engendering union
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper opens with a precise, well-chosen quotation that anchors its central thesis and frames the entire comparative argument from the first sentence.
- It uses Monica as a sustained, concrete case study to ground an otherwise abstract philosophical comparison, making the argument accessible and textually supported.
- The paper honestly acknowledges the key difference between its two sources — the Christian versus pre-Christian context — while still arguing persuasively for their essential similarity.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates comparative philosophical analysis: it places two texts from different traditions (Plato's Symposium and Augustine's Confessions) in dialogue with each other, identifying shared conceptual structures while carefully noting contextual differences. Direct quotation from primary sources is used to support each claim rather than relying on paraphrase alone.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a clear classical essay structure: an introduction establishing the thesis, a series of body paragraphs that build the comparison through thematic analysis (engendering, other-centeredness, Monica's influence on Augustine), a paragraph addressing the key difference between the two conceptions, and a conclusion that synthesizes the argument. Each paragraph advances a distinct aspect of the central claim.
Introduction: Love as Union with the Good
In the Symposium, Socrates repeats the words of Diotima that love "is of the good's being one's own always" (Symposium 268). These words essentially get to the heart of Augustine's own feelings towards his mother Monica, who would be recognized by the Church as a saint. As Augustine observes, she was faithful to God all her life, dutiful to her husband, careful of her children, and always laboring to serve God's servants. Through her actions she showed herself to be in love with God, full of the spirit of God, and in possession of the good. If love is of the good's being one's own always, as Diotima suggested, Monica was certainly the personification of love. This paper will show that Augustine's conception of love has much more in common with Diotima's than it has differences, for both get to the heart of love as a union between the source of all goodness and the human soul.
For both Socrates and Augustine, love is a kind of holy union with the divine — the ultimate source of all that is good. When one is "in love," one is united to that goodness and possesses it completely and permanently, never losing it. Love is also a process of begetting — of engendering, of bringing forth fruit.
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