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Symposium

by Plato, Benjamin Jowett (Translator)

3.92 · rating details · 5,550 ratings · 238 reviews

One of the most famous works from classical antiquity is Plato's "Symposium." The symposium of this work is more literally translated to mean a dinner-party. At this dinner-party several notable figures from classical antiquity, including Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Agathon, and Socrates in turn give speeches in praise of the god of love. An i...more

Paperback, 96 pages

Published January 1st 2006 by Digireads.com (first published -380)

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Aug 19, 2011

NoLabels rated it

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Non avendo avuto la fortuna di studiare filosofia alle superiori, nè di essermi interessata ad essa dopo, ignara totalmente del greco, mi son trovata davanti la sfida a leggere questo testo. Possedevo già 2 volumi con l'opera completa di Platone. Ovviamente mai letto nulla perchè, come al solito, compro per il piacere di comprare libri e spero un giorno di avere tempo di leggerli tutti.
Il testo che ho letto, però, mi è stato donato da una persona che riteneva avessi bisogno di lezioni d'am...more

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Jul 18, 2008

Scott Crall rated it

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Shelves: philosophy

Plato recounts a dinner party where all the guests drink wine until more-or-less drunk, and then proceed to participate in a "dinner-game" contest where each man present is required to give a speech in praise of love. The different speeches in praise of Eros belie Plato's philosophical agenda: to categorize love in its varied conceptions and manifestations, and to determine the form of love that is the most beautiful, noble, and worthy of pursuit. I was most moved by the recounting o...more

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Aug 02, 2011

Jody Mena added it · review of another edition

The Symposium was like a very filling snack - small, but potent. The Socratic method is always a treat when put into play, and I was fascinated by the way stories went into fourth- and fifth-hand accounts, rather a direct presentation - it added another dimension to the tale. I think anyone looking to read, and more, to understand the Symposium would need to know a little something about the history and society it's set in, as the topics the party-goers discuss, such as pederasty or the basen...more

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Aug 02, 2011

Scot Quaranda added it · review of another edition

As a philosophy-head, one usually falls into one of two ancient camps - Socrates or Aristotle, I am squarely in the Socrates camp. The Symposium may be the most widely read of Socrates works and deserves a look, it is an excellent entree into his style and form. He questions and questions and questions until the truth is drawn out. The topic of The Symposium is Love and what nobler of a topic is there? Many of the speakers focus on the base aspects of love or the virtues one should be speaki...more

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Oct 01, 2011

Giovanni rated it

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I was required to read this for ENG150Y1Y, The Literary Tradition. That's right: a philosophical text in an English setting. I don't know why, either, since lectures haven't started yet.

So, the Symposium, the apparent start of the concept of 'Platonic love', even though it's never referred to, though I guess it's implied. The story's framed by a guy answering a question (again, apparently) and so telling the story of the time Socrates went to a party, didn't drink at all, and got eve...moreI was required to read this for ENG150Y1Y, The Literary Tradition. That's right: a philosophical text in an English setting. I don't know why, either, since lectures haven't started yet.

So, the Symposium, the apparent start of the concept of 'Platonic love', even though it's never referred to, though I guess it's implied. The story's framed by a guy answering a question (again, apparently) and so telling the story of the time Socrates went to a party, didn't drink at all, and got everyone to make speeches about love.

That's really the point here. Everyone seems to approach Love in a different way; however, my professor wanted us to focus specifically on Aristophanes, Agathon, Socrates and Alcibiades.

I mean, I get it. I can't really remember the first two speeches already, and the book's introduction says to read the book in a single sitting. It's a scant 72 pages, so that's maybe an hour or two, but retaining seven points of view becomes difficult. Maybe I'm just really forgetful.

Anyway, what's interesting about the Symposium? Well, it actually makes you take a step back and consider the phenomenon of love itself, and if it were a god, it'd be the most powerful. The different takes and explanations of love are all actually wonderful, and in particular, Aristophanes' explanation seems the most romanticised - he takes a mythological story (I think he made it up on the spot) to show that we're literally halved figures looking for wholes. Our essences aren't whole, so we search for a reunion.

Other explanations are interesting, but for some reason that spoke to me the most clearly. Socrates quotes a woman (this actually bothers me, if you'll allow this aside; it's spoken before, whether implied or not, that a relationship with a man is best because of their mental capabilities, as women are inherently irrational - if that's so, why does Socrates' female guide have any credibility?) who shows that love, if it were a god, would not be attractive, good, hideous, or bad. In fact, love is the child of poverty and plenty, a spirit inbetween mortals and gods.

In any case, it's a free read, if you like e-books, and the Oxford World Classics version we were specifically told to get is pretty beautiful. Maybe I just love that font-face.

Probably one of the easier dialogues to digest, consider, what have you.(less)

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Sep 20, 2011

Sam Quixote rated it

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I'm not a philosophy or ancient history student, I picked up Plato's "Symposium" to challenge myself and see if I could understand it. The "Symposium" is a gathering of Greek thinkers who sit around and give speeches about love.

Phaedrus talks about the greatness of love and how those who have it achieve great things. Pausanias talks of the merits of boy/man love where the boy pleasures the man while the man passes on his wisdom to the boy and that this is the bes...more

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Sep 23, 2010

Karky rated it

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There are many things that are admirable about this work that Plato may not have meant to touch upon, but then again maybe he did. Like the fact that it contains the ONLY passage from Classical Athens that recognizes the existence of homosexuality amongst females. There's more than one view in here that defies convention, and I can appreciate such diversity.

Anyway, most of the first half is just Plato setting things up for Socrates' turn in which he dissects his fellows' eulogies, so...more

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Jun 08, 2010

Layla rated it

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Shelves: classics, worth-multiple-readings

My most vivid impression from this book is Aristophanes' creation myth concerning humanity.

synopsis from Wiki;

"His speech is an explanation of why people in love say they feel "whole" when they have found their love partner. It is, he says, because in primal times people had doubled bodies, with faces and limbs turned away from one another. As somewhat spherical creatures who wheeled around like clowns doing cartwheels (190a), these original people were v...more

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Jun 03, 2010

Rowland Bismark rated it

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The prominent place the Symposium holds in our canon comes as much as a result of its literary merit as its philosophical merit. While other works among Plato's middle-period dialogues, such as the Republic and thePhaedo, contain more philosophical meat, more closely examining the Theory of Forms and intensely cross-examining interlocutors, none can match the dramatic force of the Symposium. It is lively and entertaining, with sharp and witty characterization that gives us valuable insight into ...moreThe prominent place the Symposium holds in our canon comes as much as a result of its literary merit as its philosophical merit. While other works among Plato's middle-period dialogues, such as the Republic and thePhaedo, contain more philosophical meat, more closely examining the Theory of Forms and intensely cross-examining interlocutors, none can match the dramatic force of the Symposium. It is lively and entertaining, with sharp and witty characterization that gives us valuable insight into the social life of Athenian intellectual circles.

From a philosophical standpoint, the Symposium is also far from bankrupt. Not only does it give us some insight into the Theory of Forms in Diotima's discussion of the Form of Beauty, but it also gives us a number of varying perspectives on love. Significantly, we see Plato rejecting the romanticization of sexual love, valuing above all an asexual and all-consuming passion for wisdom and beauty. Ultimately, he concludes, the philosopher's search for wisdom is the most valuable of all pursuits. In theSymposium, Plato values philosophy, as exemplified by Socrates, over a number of other arts which are given as points of comparison: medicine, as exemplified by Eryximachus, comedy as exemplified by Aristophanes, and tragedy as exemplified by Agathon.

The series of speeches in praise of Love are not simply meant as beating around the bush that leads up to the main event. They mirror Diotima's discussion of the mysteries, where she suggests that one can approach the truth only through a slow and careful ascent. Similarly, we can see each speech, with a few exceptions, as coming closer and closer to the truth. This suggestion is reinforced by the fact that Socrates alludes to all the foregoing speeches in his own speech, as if to suggest that his words could not be spoken until everyone else had said their piece. This staggered approach to truth is also reflected in the framing of the narrative, whereby we are only able to gain access to this story through a series of narrative filters.

We should note that Socrates is the exemplar of the lover of wisdom and the lover of beauty, but is neither wise nor beautiful himself. In this way, he best represents Love, which Diotima describes as a mediating spirit that moves between gods and men. Love himself never has anything, but is always desirous of happiness, beauty, and wisdom. The same is true with Socrates. Those who follow his lead will not necessarily attain wisdom, but will find fulfillment in a life-long pursuit of wisdom. The state of having attained wisdom is represented by Diotima, not Socrates, and she speaks through Socrates as a god-like and unapproachable figure.

There is also some discussion as to exactly what is being discussed in theSymposium. The Greek word eros leaves the matter ambiguous as to whether we are discussing love in the normal, human, sense of the word, or if we are discussing desire in a much broader sense. The later speeches in particular tend toward this broader interpretation. Diotima gives what is perhaps a satisfactory answer by suggesting that, while all kinds of desire might be considered love, we normally restrict use of that term to one particular kind of desire, the desire that exists between two human beings.

Philosophy aside, however, the Symposium still makes a terrific read. Aristophanes' myth is delightful, Alcibiades' drunken antics are entertaining, and the whole narrative shimmers with life. We also get a very clear sense of the dynamics of sexual attraction and courtship--both male-male and male-female--in ancient Athens, and we are given a beautiful portrait of one of the high-points of the Athenian scene: the symposium.(less)

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Jan 25, 2010

Dusty rated it

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Recommended to Dusty by: Elizabeth Richmond-Garza

Shelves: graduate-school, read-in-2010

A curious coincidence: It's 2010, and the debate over Proposition 8, which disallows state recognition of same-sex unions, has invited court testimony on the "nature" of homosexuals -- as politically unimportant, as sexually deviant, as likely sexual predators. That's in California. Here in Texas, for my graduate course on critical theory, we've just read Plato's "Symposium", which Edith Hamilton (the translator of my edition) says is one of the man's two best dialogues. Its ...moreA curious coincidence: It's 2010, and the debate over Proposition 8, which disallows state recognition of same-sex unions, has invited court testimony on the "nature" of homosexuals -- as politically unimportant, as sexually deviant, as likely sexual predators. That's in California. Here in Texas, for my graduate course on critical theory, we've just read Plato's "Symposium", which Edith Hamilton (the translator of my edition) says is one of the man's two best dialogues. Its chief topic is love -- love in general, but mostly love between men. And Prop 8 supporters act like same-sex partnering is a 21st-century phenomenon!

About the book itself: it's far and away my favorite of Plato's work -- not that I've read it all or am in any way an expert on the man. But for ancient Greek rhetoric, it is a remarkable piece of entertainment. I suppose it helps that it's set at a dinner party with various prominent Athenian figures drinking heavily and making speeches and jokes they probably shouldn't. The most memorable of these is Aristophanes's account of love as a person's search for his/her "other half", long since separated from him/her by the envious and fearing gods; if you've seen Hedwig and the Angry Inch, yeah, this is the inspiration.

Socrates's views on love are memorable, too, but in his speech I couldn't help but concentrate instead upon Plato's evident but under-appreciated mastery of the art of storytelling. In this scene, I count six frames: (1) Diotima teaches Socrates the art of love; (2) Socrates relays this lesson to his table-mates; (3) Aristodemus, present at the gathering, summarizes the events to Appollodorus; (4) Appollodorus puts the whole affair in his own words; (5) Plato shares those words with us; and (6) Edith Hamilton has translated Plato so I can read him in English. The fact that all this makes sense, in the story, without these frames interfering, is ... a marvel. Nicely done, Plato and Edith.

Back to the book's frank homosexuality. On one hand, I laud it and lament the absence of Platonic quotes in the same-sex union debate. There are so many killers: "Men who are slices of the male are followers of the male, and show their masculinity throughout their boyhood by the way they make friends with men, and the delight they take in lying beside them and being taken in their arms. And these are the most hopeful of the nation's youth, for theirs is the most virile constitution." Or, "It is better to love openly than in secret." On the other hand, however, and despite the "fresh" air breathed by this millennium-old text, I remain disturbed by the fact that Socrates and his cohort's praise for love -- between men -- is founded partially upon the assumptions that women are inferior and that "youthful" men (adolescents?) are more desirable than fully-grown ones -- at least as far as the bodily forms of love manifest themselves. Thus: four rather than five stars.

Reservations aside, Symposium doesn't need my mark of approval to make it a book for the ages. Go read it.(less)

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Dec 20, 2009

blake rated it

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Shelves: philosophy

Starts out slow, with mostly irrelevant speeches on the nature of Love. The first half or so is remarkable just for the interesting description it gives of Ancient Greek homosexual practices. It gets much more interesting once Socrates takes the floor, immediately ripping the false rhetoric of the hypocritical sophists in favor of Truth. His theory of love is interesting but is not at all what we think of as romantic love. . . it is more like love of truth/beauty/god and culminates in a mysti...more

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Jul 21, 2009

Erik Graff rated it

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Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Erik by: no one

Shelves: philosophy

Although I read the Symposium for the first time long ago, I reread the thing a couple of years ago in the Jowett translation with a friend who was finishing up a Ph.D. in Classics at Loyola University Chicago. He had come over for dinner and we read the thing aloud to one another afterwards with both the translation and the Greek text at hand.

The Symposium is often the first of Plato's texts read by students and it is a good choice because readily accessible to the beginner. Furth...more

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Jul 28, 2011

Peter Jamieson added it · review of another edition

Okay - so, as far as I can see, this dialogue is about love. Well, of course it is - everyone knows this, and the theme is made explicit right from the outset. Various people at this party give encomia on how wonderful love is - but then Socrates delivers the killer punch: we've all misunderstood what love really is. He broadens the discussion right out, pointing out that love stands midway between the imperfect and the perfect, the unholy and the holy. It's the dynamic flux which leads us from ...more

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Jan 02, 2009

Eric rated it

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Shelves: philosophy, classics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Like all of Plato, it is an allegorical story with a clear objective in the defining of his thought.

Socrates is held up to be a man of immense physical character, able to drink without becoming drunk, course through the winter barefoot and without feeling cold, supreme warrior and able to have sex all the time, without tiring.

We are given a cure for the hiccups by the eminent physician Eryximachus for the playwright Aristophanes. (Hold your breath, gargle with water an...moreLike all of Plato, it is an allegorical story with a clear objective in the defining of his thought.

Socrates is held up to be a man of immense physical character, able to drink without becoming drunk, course through the winter barefoot and without feeling cold, supreme warrior and able to have sex all the time, without tiring.

We are given a cure for the hiccups by the eminent physician Eryximachus for the playwright Aristophanes. (Hold your breath, gargle with water and then if that doesn't work tickle your nose until you sneeze...)

The story begins as this group of eminent thinkers gathers together for the evening. They decide that since the night before they drank to excess it would not be in their best health to again drink so heavily, so they decide to have a discussion, and drink only moderately (reminds me of college....)

They begin a discourse on the nature of love. Each man taking a turn to describe the various ways they think about love. They reach a consensus that there are two types of love. One masculine and pure, and the other base and feminine.

Aristophanes proposes that the sexes were once a conjoined creature of four legs and four arms, that being so powerful Zeus was forced to split into two separate beings, one male and one female. "Those who come from the man-woman are lascivious and adulterous; those who come from the woman form female attachments; those who are a section of the male follow the male and embrace him, and in him all their desires centre. The pair are inseparable and live together in pure and manly affection; yet they cannot tell what they want of one another. But if Hephaestus were to come to them with his instruments and propose that they should be melted into one and remain one here and hereafter, they would acknowledge that this was the very expression of their want. For love is the desire of the whole, and the pursuit of the whole is called love. " (Jowett, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1600/1600... )

Phaedrus and Agathon speak of the god to whom the party is dedicated.

It is Socrates who then tells of his discussion with the witch Diotima. And questioning Agathon in his usual manner of proving someone wrong. Diotima tells us that love is desire for (beauty)good and the desire for immortality to hold on to that good forever. And some men have love in their bodies and these go forth and find a woman and have babies, and some have love in their souls and go forth and create ideas and serve their nation.

"'This, my dear Socrates,' said the stranger of Mantineia, 'is that life above all others which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute; a beauty which if you once beheld, you would see not to be after the measure of gold, and garments, and fair boys and youths, whose presence now entrances you; and you and many a one would be content to live seeing them only and conversing with them without meat or drink, if that were possible—you only want to look at them and to be with them. But what if man had eyes to see the true beauty—the divine beauty, ...beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may. Would that be an ignoble life?'"(Plato)

Then Alcibiades shows up compares Socrates to a Satyr, and the party becomes a revel and everyone gets wasted, except for Socrates, who makes sure everyone gets to sleep and then leaves.(less)

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Sep 10, 2011

Thompson rated it

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This may be Plato's best dialogue. The discussion here in on "Love." There are different degrees of love depending on how far removed from "The Form" of love something is. The furthest removed from the form is "eros." A bit closer to the form is "phileo." The closest to the form would be "agape." But, what makes this dialogue especially well written is that there is discussion on love along with the attempt to demonstrate the three types of...more

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Jun 23, 2011

Emily Carpenter rated it

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Shelves: to-read-summer-2011

One morning after sitting in on another students exhibition, I had about two hours to kill. So I walked into Barnes & Nobel and found myself in the philosophy section and picked up this book. I sat down an dbarley looked up fromit's pages. The ideas in this book were not only well fleshed out but very thought provoking. I am sure I will have to read it again and take notes becuase there were mnay ideas presented in the book that I strongly disagreed with. Also, I believe some research should be ...more

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Jul 20, 2009

Barnaby Thieme rated it

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Shelves: philosophy, greece

Plato's account of Socrates on love was more engaging than I expected. In the eponymous symposium several figures present a speech in praise of love and its qualities. Perhaps best-known is the famous speech of Aristophanes in which he humorously claims that humans once had two heads and four arms and legs before being split in two by the gods, and we now seek to rejoin with our primordial double.

But Socrates really steals the show with his magnificent recounting of love as an instr...more

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Jan 31, 2011

Scarlett rated it

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I was completely enthralled by this beautiful piece of writing all through-out. All of the speeches pronounced in an attempt to define "Love" are interesting in their own ways, and added something relevant that made me reflect. I particularly enjoyed Aristophanes's myth which was both touching and humorous, mainly because it so references all types of love: male-male, female-female, and male-female, and perhaps I have a soft spot for this way of thinking.

I was excited to rea...more

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May 25, 2007

Marielle rated it

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Shelves: translated, classic

This work is a real jewel. Entertaining, and full of all sorts of little tidbits about love and sex; the effects of intoxicants on philosophical discourse; the nature of man's relationship with law. There's a reason everyone in the modern world knows the names of Plato and Socrates- a must read.

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Jul 09, 2010

Juan rated it

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Symposium is Greek for “drinking party,” and it is in this setting of steady drinking and revelry where Socrates’ inquiry into the nature of love takes place among friends and acquaintances. The Symposium is my favorite of Plato’s dialogues and I especially enjoyed reading about the myth of love’s origins: how we humans were once one being—not sexless, but made of both sexes, and these creatures felt so powerful that they tried to scale the heights of heaven until incurring the wrath of Zeus, ru...more

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Jun 06, 2010

Emily Humbert rated it

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"In fact, whenever I discuss philosophy or listen to others doing so, I enjoy it enormously, quite apart from thinking it's doing me good. But when I hear other kinds of discussion, especially the talk of rich businessmen like you, I get bored and feel sorry for you and your friends, because you think you're doing something important, when you're not." 173c

"I don't think you're a failure, I KNOW you are." 173d

"So not every type of loving and Love ...more

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Sep 24, 2009

Dana Miranda rated it

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Shelves: crème-de-le-crème

a remedial lesson of socrates slowly starts to come off as absolutist. this however, only in relation to the canceling of the socratic method and logical arguments with the encroachment of 'noble' virtues chosen from untenable dichotomist systems. disagreement mostly arise from the seemingly relativist approach socrates takes, yet never takes further. instead there is a limiting approach to phenomenon and knowledge for altogether the search for order and timelessness, or immortality generated th...more

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Jun 19, 2010

Venus added it · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy

ضیافت، مهمانی یا بزمِ میگساری (به یونانی: Συμπόσιο) یکی از مهمترین رساله‌های افلاطون است. موضوع این رساله عشق است و این اثر مهمترین اثر افلاطون در زمینهٔ عشق می‌باشد. اثر دیگر افلاطون دربارهٔ عشق که با ضیافت هم در پیوند است فدروس می‌باشد. همچنین این رساله پیوندهایی هم با رسالهٔ فیدون دارد.این رساله از رساله‌های سقراطی افلاطون می‌باشد که در آنها سقراط چهرهٔ اول رویداد می‌باشد. این رساله به گونهٔ روایتی‌است که در بخشی از آن خواننده شاهد گفتگوی بازیگران آن با یکدیگر است. نام این داستان نیز اشاره به...more

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Nov 24, 2008

Nat rated it

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Plato's depiction of Alcibiades arriving at Agathon's house is the most vivid and accurate representation of an obnoxious drunk crashing a party in the history of Western literature.

For example, consider Alcibiades's exchange with the boorish Eryximachus at 214B. Alcibiades, who is already "plastered" (212E), drinks an entire "cooling jar", which "holds more than two quarts of wine" (214A), orders it filled up again for Socrates, and then has the follow...more

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Aug 15, 2011

Alex Hogan rated it

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Shelves: classic, gay

This is the source of Plato's theory of love, which has been watered down drastically over the centuries to the modern term of "platonic love". Plato's idea of love was almost the opposite of the what that modern term means. It was not about love between a man and a woman which is not sexual, but it was about a love between two men which is very much sexual (Greek word: eros), but where the sex is not acted on and so the love can rise to a higher, more spiritual level. Rather than d...more

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Jun 05, 2007

Isaiah rated it

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Shelves: antiquity, philosophy

A wine-bowl of fun! I think this would be a great book for a book club; like the best of Plato, it can inspire endless dialogue.

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Aug 28, 2011

Seán rated it

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A brief, amusing, and insightful read. Plato's Symposium gives a more personal view into philosophy than we normally see - the title itself refers to a drinking party. It each interesting to hear each character's personal speech on Love (and its different aspects, both the human and the divine.) This additionally serves to give the reader a greater feel for the oral tradition of Ancient Greece. This took me about four hours (at a very leisurely pace) to read, and is definitely worth setting asid...more

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Sep 04, 2009

Jess rated it

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 27, 2008

Kate rated it

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Shelves: philosophy

i love the idea of forms, must re-read to remember why i was so moved by this

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Sep 04, 2011

Nikki Faith rated it

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Shelves: mythology

Excellent intro in this edition that sets the stage, provides historical background, and offers insight and analysis into the dialogue. Between that and my introduction to Plato with The Phaedrus in my Philosophy course, I was prepared to tackle The Symposium, and I rather enjoyed it. Love is always an intriguing topic, in my opinion, and the various opinions shared on it through the dialogue are fascinating. I felt there was an overall light tone to the dialogue, and I settled in feeling like I...more

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About Plato

Birth c. 428–427 BC, Athens
Death c. 348–347 BC, Athens

Plato was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western phi...more

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Books by Plato

The Trial and Death of Socrates (Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo)

Five Dialogues: Euthyphro/Apology/Crito/Meno/Phaedo

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Quotes from The Symposium

“Love is simply the name for the desire and pursuit of the whole.” — 11 people liked it

“...when he looks at Beauty in the only way that Beauty can be seen - only then will it become possible for him to give birth not to images of virtue (because he's in touch with no images), but to true virtue [arete] (because he is in touch with true Beauty). The love of the gods belongs to anyone who has given to true virtue and nourished it, and if any human being could become immortal, it would be he.” — 8 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8592940-symposium?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1279386215m/8592940.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8592940-symposium?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Symposium by Plato[/url]

Symposium

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