Diotima de Mantinea, maestra-sabia y partera en la contemplación del Eros (Amor): alcances histórico-filosóficos desde El Banquete de Platón

Abstract

The history of philosophy has not always given importance to the imprint that women have had on the construction of culture. This occurs with greater incidence in the Ancient Ages and the Middle Ages; a statement that does not free the Modern Age from this displacement. However, Plato in his work The Symposium, makes an exception when he discusses the essence of Eros (Love). It will be a woman  —Diotima of Mantinea— who instructs Socrates in a maieutic path so that he can understand and contemplate Eros as an archetype belonging to the eidetic world. Diotima will be a wise teacher who will reveal this mystery to the disciple; It will lead him through elevation and purification to a metaphysical contemplation of the mystery of Love. And, although the unknown remains at play about his historical-geographic existence, the philosophical impact that Plato attributes to her in the dialogue established with Socrates weighs more. This writing will allow the reader to conclude that the construction of philosophical knowledge and other areas of culture, such as science, art, humanities, technology, among others, are not an exclusive task for men, but rather an open horizon for everyone who wants to delve with rigor and seriousness into the mystery of Being.