Plato's Symposium has been considered his least philosophical dialogue. The Symposium includes a series of speeches. In order to draw a conclusion about Socrates' view of love, we will examine the previous speeches and compare them to his speech. This will inevitably bring out similarities that will bring out a pattern in Socrates' view of love. The method and content remain the two main similarities. Concerning method, Socrates' speech follows that of those who preceded him in his use of mythology. This is seen in his story of the birth of Love from desire and spirit (203bff.). Phaedrus, Pausanias and Agathon also follow with their stories of the conception of Love. Let us now consider the similarities in content between these speeches. There are two types of conceptual similarities. In (195A1-3), Agathon observes that before giving a speech to praise Love, one must first define it and describe its effects. In other words; what is its nature. Socrates not only agrees with Agathon (201d7-e2), he urges his friends to examine and determine what virtue is before he can ask whether or not it can be taught. Socrates' speech in the Symposium is similar in both senses to that of his predecessor in that he agrees on the effects attributed to Love and the nature of Love. Socrates, however, recognizes that love is a good thing; there are three fewer chords on its effect. Phèdre first claims that love inspires greater courage in lovers (178e3ff), because a lover prefers to perish rather than be seen by his lover fleeing the battlefield. Diotima agrees since she observes that Love leads lovers to procreate and then protect their offspring by fighting any enemy (207b3-4). Socrates completely agrees with this but adds that Love not only brings...... middle of paper...... also does things which are also known as instances of poiehsis. Therefore, she argues that the noun love has become reserved only for lovers of people when it should mean lovers of anything. Diotima uses an analogy to explain the distinction between opposites and contradictories (202a-b5). It defines right opinion or true belief (or theh doxeh) as the golden mean between two extremes of ignorance and wisdom. Wisdom and ignorance are therefore opposites and not contradictions of each other. Someone's refusal may come from a true belief. Both analogies – that of the creators and that of true belief – are significant insofar as they provoke logical arguments and contribute to their argument. This is made clear when Diotima further points out that there are spiritual creators as well as bodily creators both manifesting the same drive; the quest for Love and its immortality.