Hidden Foundations of Western Philosophy: Diotima and the Ladder of Love

Some random dude, yes a dude, wrote to me a few months back. A five-page email pointing out a blind spot. Specifically, my ignorance about the role of females in the history of philosophy / psychology. 

He began by casually mentioning that Socrates' mentor was a female priest called Diotima who taught him about the nature of love. Are you kidding me? 

So I reread the Symposium. You know, the all-male drinking session between Socrates and his friends that became a template for intellectual discussion over the next 2,000 years.

And yes, the dude had not lied to me. Socrates begins his talk by mentioning that his ideas are based on what he was taught by Diotima, his mentor, a female priest, about the nature of love. I repeat, the mentor of Socrates. His speech in the Symposium is devoted to an astonishingly detailed encounter and discussion with Diotima, specifically on the nature of love, on how love is the source of happiness and harmony, and especially how humans are meant to climb the "ladder of love," from physical love to a love of Love itself. Oh, and by the way, Socrates' encomium (a speech in praise of something, which is love, the central topic of the celebrated Symposium) is entirely devoted to Diotima's teachings, or should one say, the Socratic dialogue between Diotima and Socrates, with Diotima initiating the "Socratic" style of questioning (perhaps we should be talking about Diotimic Dialogue instead of Socratic Dialogue?).

So you might say that Plato is once again making things up, inventing the person of Diotima, and along with Diotima, a very sophisticated and thought-provoking form of dialogue, to introduce his own ideas. But if you did, you would have to concede that he invented Socrates too.

So guys, if you are going to talk about Socrates, about the Symposium, about Socratic Dialogue, and about the origins of Western philosophy, why would you not mention Diotima and the Ladder of Love? 

It's like talking about the history of America without mentioning the native Americans.

But that's what we are doing. Try looking up "Socrates' teacher" on Encyclopedia Britannica. Nothing. Or better still,  the one-line reference in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: "Socrates claimed.. to have learned erotics from the priestess Diotima of Mantinea." "Erotics." That's what this celebrated encyclopedia has to say about Diotima's earth-shaking "Ladder of Love." It makes Diotima seem like some sort of female companion. Or worse.

I'm so embarrassed about the history of my field. Androcentrism. Eurocentrism. Egocentrism. Plus ca change.