Symposium
By Plato
()
About this ebook
Love is examined in a sequence of speeches by men attending a symposium, or drinking party. Each man must deliver an encomium, a speech in praise of Love (Eros). The party takes place at the house of the tragedian Agathon in Athens. Socrates in his speech asserts that the highest purpose of love is to become a philosopher or, literally, a lover of wisdom. The dialogue has been used as a source by social historians seeking to throw light on life in ancient Athens, in particular upon sexual behavior, and the symposium as an institution.
Plato
Plato (aprox. 424-327 BC), a student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle, is commonly regarded as the centermost figure of Western philosophy. During the Classical period of Ancient Greece he was based in Athens where he founded his Academy and created the Platonist school of thought. His works are among the most influential in Western history, commanding interest and challenging readers of every era and background since they were composed.
Read more from Plato
Plato: The Complete Works: From the greatest Greek philosopher, known for The Republic, Symposium, Apology, Phaedrus, Laws, Crito, Phaedo, Timaeus, Meno, Euthyphro, Gorgias, Parmenides, Protagoras, Statesman and Critias Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Days of Socrates (Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito, Phaedo) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Essential Plato: Apology, Symposium, and The Republic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYale Required Reading - Collected Works (Vol. 1) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Five Dialogues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Days of Socrates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaws Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Dialogues (Translated by Benjamin Jowett) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEssential Dialogues of Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Dialogues of Plato Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDialogues of Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Timaeus and Critias Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial and Death of Socrates: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProtagoras and Meno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/530+ Classic Philosophy Book Collection: The Art of War, Poetics, The Republic, The Meditations, The Prince and others Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Symposium
Related ebooks
Antiquity's Greatest Philosophers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Trial and Death of Socrates (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading): Four Dialogues Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlato and Aristotle: The Lives and Legacies of the Master and Pupil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Essence of Aristotle Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Parmenides Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPocket Aristotle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle Dictionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Platonic Studies: Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5System of Nature. Volumes 1 & 2.: Laws of the Physical World and of the Moral World. Translated from French by Balraj K. Joshi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Belief in Intuition: Individuality and Authority in Henri Bergson and Max Scheler Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTheaetetus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Advancement of Learning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Wisdom That No One Wants Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMichael Oakeshott's Skepticism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAristotle on the Human Good Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Determinism Vs Indeterminism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEarly Greek Philosophy & Other Essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Memorable Thoughts of Socrates Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Devil of Envy: Shakespeare's tragedies in the light of Francis Bacon's philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEssays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - Plato, or the philosopher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRobert Lowell's Language of the Self Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEros in Plato, Rousseau, and Nietzsche: The Politics of Infinity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKant's Critiques Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond Good and Evil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCharacter and the Individual Personality in English Renaissance Drama: Tragedy, History, Tragicomedy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOutlines of Metaphysic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHindu Literature: Comprising The Book of Good Counsels, Nala and Damayanti, The Ramayana and Sakoontala Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoman Women Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Selected Writings of Friedrich Nietzsche Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe City of God: BOOKS XIII-XXII Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Philosophy For You
Questions for Deep Thinkers: 200+ of the Most Challenging Questions You (Probably) Never Thought to Ask Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bhagavad Gita Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Letters from a Stoic: All Three Volumes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Frugal Hedonism: A Guide to Spending Less While Enjoying Everything More Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Allegory of the Cave Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Experiencing God (2021 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: Six Translations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The School of Life: An Emotional Education: An Emotional Education Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bhagavad Gita - The Song of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Symposium
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Symposium - Plato
Table of Contents
Cover
The Book
The Author
Title
Copyright
Introduction
Symposium
The Book
The Symposium (Ancient Greek: Συμπόσιον) is a philosophical text by Plato dated c. 385–370 BC. It concerns itself at one level with the genesis, purpose and nature of love, and (in latter-day interpretations) is the origin of the concept of Platonic love.
Love is examined in a sequence of speeches by men attending a symposium, or drinking party. Each man must deliver an encomium, a speech in praise of Love (Eros). The party takes place at the house of the tragedian Agathon in Athens. Socrates in his speech asserts that the highest purpose of love is to become a philosopher or, literally, a lover of wisdom. The dialogue has been used as a source by social historians seeking to throw light on life in ancient Athens, in particular upon sexual behavior, and the symposium as an institution.
The Symposium was written as a dramatic dialogue – a form used by Plato in more than thirty works – and, according to Walter Hamilton, it is his most perfect one. Set in Athenian social life, it develops the themes of love and also of Socrates' character. There is little doubt that the content of the dialogue is fictitious, although Plato has built a very realistic atmosphere.
Andrew Dalby considers the opening pages of the Symposium the best description in any ancient Greek source of the ramifications of an oral tradition. Plato has set up a multitude of layers between the original symposium and his written narrative: he heard it fourth-hand (if we are to identify him with Apollodorus's friend), so it comes to the written text fifth-hand. In addition, the story Socrates narrates was told to Socrates by Diotima, creating one more layer between the reader and the philosophic path that Socrates traces. Nevertheless, Dalby is eager to add that he does not think the rendering of the discussion by Plato is historically accurate, and considers that the content is in great part his invention. Other scholars, like Walter Hamilton, agree with this view.
It is considered that the work was written no earlier than 385 BCE, and the party to which it makes reference has been fixed in 416 BCE, the year in which the host Agathon had the dramatic triumph mentioned in the text. The disastrous expedition to Syracuse, of which Alcibiades was a commander, took place the next year, after which Alcibiades deserted to Sparta, Athens' archenemy. Hamilton remarks that Plato takes care to portray Alcibiades and Socrates and their relationship in a way that makes it clear that Socrates had not been a bad influence on Alcibiades. Plato does this to free his teacher from the guilt of corrupting the minds of prominent youths, which had in fact earned Socrates the death sentence.Plato sets the action at a party hosted by the poet Agathon to celebrate his first victory in a dramatic competition, the Dionysia of 416 BCE. There a discussion develops between the guests on the theme of love. Aristodemus, who was present, reported the conversation to Phoinix and Apollodorus. Phoinix told it to another, unnamed person; meanwhile Apollodorus checked it with Socrates, who was present. The unnamed person has told it to Glaucon (Plato's brother, an interlocutor in the Republic), but has given him an unreliable version and has left him uncertain how long ago the discussion took place. Glaucon has now obtained a better version from Apollodorus, who is thus primed to tell the story again to a friend. From this point on, he will be quoting Aristodemus (172a–174a). The dramatic date of the frame conversation, in which Apollodorus speaks to his unnamed friend, is estimated to be between 401 BCE (fifteen years after Agathon won his prize) and the time when Socrates was tried and executed in 399 BCE.
Plato uses the dialogue to expound various theories of love. Each participant by means of very personal contributions, which in some instances are thought to be parodies of the speaker, adds something towards an exposition of love that at the end receives its conclusion from Socrates. The love to which the participants refer is mostly homosexual love between men, reflecting a social reality in classical Greece.
In order to understand Plato more clearly, it is useful to bear in mind his theory of Forms, according to which all the phenomena perceived by the senses are imitations of eternal and perfect Forms that alone have reality. Beauty belongs to this category of Forms.
The Author
Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. At eighteen, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BC). His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and government – and constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip of Macedon, tutored Alexander the Great starting from 343 BC. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Aristotle was the first genuine scientist in history ... [and] every scientist is in his debt.
Teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books. The fact that Aristotle was a pupil of Plato contributed to his former views of Platonism, but, following Plato's death, Aristotle immersed himself in empirical studies and shifted from Platonism to empiricism. He believed all peoples' concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception. Aristotle's views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works.
Aristotle's views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended into the Renaissance and were not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics. Some of Aristotle's zoological observations, such as on the hectocotyl (reproductive) arm of the octopus, were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic.
In metaphysics, Aristotelianism profoundly influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophical and theological thought during the Middle Ages and continues to influence Christian theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as The First Teacher
(Arabic: المعلم الأول).
His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues – Cicero described his literary style as a river of gold
– it is thought that only around a third of his original output has survived.
Aristotle, whose name means the best purpose
, was born in 384 BC in Stagira, Chalcidice, about 55 km (34 miles) east of modern-day Thessaloniki. His father Nicomachus was the personal physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Although there is little information on Aristotle's childhood, he probably spent some time within the Macedonian palace, making his first connections with the Macedonian monarchy.
At about the age of eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Plato's Academy. He remained there for nearly twenty years before leaving Athens in 348/47 BC. The traditional story about his departure records that he was disappointed with the Academy's direction after control passed to Plato's nephew Speusippus, although it is possible that he feared anti-Macedonian sentiments and left before Plato died.
Aristotle then accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor. There, he traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island. Aristotle married Pythias, either Hermias's adoptive daughter or niece. She bore him a daughter, whom they also named Pythias. Soon after Hermias' death, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor to his son Alexander in 343 BC.
Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During that time he gave lessons not only to Alexander, but also to two other future kings: Ptolemy and Cassander. Aristotle encouraged Alexander toward eastern conquest and his attitude towards Persia was unabashedly ethnocentric. In one famous example, he counsels Alexander to be a leader to the Greeks and a despot to the barbarians, to look after the former as after friends and relatives, and to deal with the latter as with beasts or plants
.
By 335 BC, Artistotle had returned to Athens, establishing his own school there known as the Lyceum. Aristotle conducted courses at the school for the next twelve years. While in Athens, his wife Pythias died and Aristotle became involved with Herpyllis of Stagira, who bore him a son whom he named after his father, Nicomachus. According to the Suda, he also had an eromenos, Palaephatus of Abydus.
This period in Athens, between 335 and 323 BC, is when Aristotle is believed to have composed many of his works. He wrote many dialogues of which only fragments have survived. Those works that have survived are in treatise form and were not, for the most part, intended for widespread publication; they are generally thought to be lecture aids for his students. His most important treatises include Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, De Anima (On the Soul) and Poetics.
Aristotle not only studied almost every subject possible at the time, but made significant contributions to most of them. In physical science, Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, economics, psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, foreign customs, literature and poetry. His combined works constitute a virtual encyclopedia of Greek knowledge.
Near the end of his life, Alexander and Aristotle became estranged over Alexander's relationship with Persia and Persians. A widespread tradition in antiquity suspected Aristotle of playing a role in Alexander's death, but there is little evidence.
Following Alexander's death, anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens was rekindled. In 322 BC, Demophilus and Eurymedon the Hierophant reportedly denounced Aristotle for impiety, prompting him to flee to his mother's family estate in Chalcis, at which occasion he was said to have stated: "I