The Symposium (Penguin Classics)

by

144 pages

English language

Published April 29, 2003 by Penguin Classics.

ISBN:
978-0-14-044927-3
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In the course of a lively drinking party, a group of Athenian intellectuals exchange views on eros, or desire. From their conversation emerges a series of subtle reflections on gender roles, sex in society, and the sublimation of basic human instincts. The discussion culminates in a radical challenge to conventional views by Plato's mentor, Socrates, who advocates transcendence through spiritual love. The Symposium is a deft interweaving of different viewpoints and ideas about the nature of love - as a response to beauty, a cosmic force, a motive for social action, and as a means of ethical education.

46 editions