Plato's Symposium
A Critical Guide

A comprehensive and incisive treatment of this multi-layered dialogue and its main critical issues, focusing on the central theme of er?s.

Pierre Destrée (Edited by), Zina Giannopoulou (Edited by)

9781107110052, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 May 2017

280 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.9 cm, 0.52 kg

Plato's Symposium is an exceptionally multi-layered dialogue. At once a historical document, a philosophical drama that enacts abstract ideas in an often light-hearted way, and a literary masterpiece, it has exerted an influence that goes well beyond the confines of philosophy. The essays in this volume, by leading scholars, offer detailed analyses of all parts of the work, focusing on the central and much-debated theme of er?s or 'human desire' - which can refer both to physical desire or desire for happiness. They reveal thematic continuities between the prologue and the various speeches as well as between the speeches themselves, and present a rich collection of contrasting yet complementary readings of Diotima's speech. The volume will be invaluable for classicists and philosophers alike, and for all who are interested in one of Plato's most fascinating and challenging dialogues.

1. Narrative temporalities and models of desire Zina Giannopoulou
2. Unfamiliar voices: harmonizing the non-Socratic speeches and Plato's psychology Jeremy Reid
3. A doctor's folly: diagnosing the speech of Eryximachus Franco V. Trivigno
4. Aristophanic tragedy Suzanne Obdrzalek
5. Divinization David Sedley
6. Why Agathon's beauty matters Francisco Gonzalez
7. Er?s and the pursuit of form F. C. C. Sheffield
8. The mortal soul and immortal happiness Andrea Nightingale
9. A fetish for fixity? Christopher Shields
10. Generating in beauty for the sake of immortality: personal love and the goals of the lover Anthony W. Price
11. Alcibiades the profane: images of the mysteries Radcliffe Edmonds
12. How does contemplation make you happy? An ethical reading of Diotima's speech Pierre Destrée
13. Eudaimonism and Platonic er?s Richard Kraut.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]