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Symposium Paperback – December 15, 2016

by Plato (Author), Benjamin Jowett (Translator)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 675 ratings
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In his brilliant dialogue, Symposium, Plato presents an imaginary dinner-party set in Athens in 416 BC where the guests include Aristophanes, Socrates and the most popular Athenian of his day, golden boy Alcibiades. The sequence of dazzling speeches culminates in Socrates' famous account of the views of Diotima, a prophetess who taught him that love is our means of trying to attain goodness.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    49 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    December 15, 2016
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.12 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1541158067
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1541158061
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (December 15, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 49 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1541158067
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1541158061
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 0.704 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.12 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 675 ratings

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Plato

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
675 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

FranklyMe
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazzzing!
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2014
Verified Purchase
Ignore the title and please do not judge me poorly because of it. I found the “Symposium” insightful and titillating (i.e. not in a sexual connotation). I have always had a difficult time trying to convey what “love” meant. So I denoted the term as a “feeling”, instead realizing that “love” could not be compacted into a simplistic meaning. I had unintentionally devalued its worth. I can’t ensure that I completely understand what love is, but I can safely say that this book has helped clarify a couple of my misconceptions. I am happy to say that I have gained a lot of insightful knowledge from this book.

P.S. The dialogue with the drunken character and Socrates was hilarious.
9 people found this helpful
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Donn Headley
5.0 out of 5 stars Who wrote the Book of Love?
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2018
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Plato recreates a dinner (symposium) where the participants, including Socrates, debate the origins, nature, and purpose of love from diverse perspectives. Is it honor? Is it self-sacrifice? Is it patriotism? Lively ideas and passionate discussion.
One person found this helpful
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THREEKAY
4.0 out of 5 stars Doctrine of Love Simplified
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2014
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This great work of Plato is a recording of a philosophical discussion and debate of Socrates and his contemporary philosopher friends at a banquet held by Agathon at his residence over the subject called DOCTRINE OF LOVE.

One would get mesmerized by the different opinions about love by some of the greatest Greek minds.The discussion and debate proceeds one after the other with each of the great persons like Agathon, Aristodemus, Eryximachus, Pausanias, Aristophanes and finally Socrates describe love in all possible permutations and combinations. Each of them have their own versions which might appear true to every reader in some context or the other. But the one given by Socrates was of course the best! His version of love is that of immortality through beauty. According to him every living thing loves to be immortal and eternal and hence it re-creates itself through an emotion called love. Hence according to Socrates, love is nothing but one’s affinity for eternity or immortality of body and fame, which is attained through this complex psychological emotion.
At one point in the book, the reader gets an impression about the speakers favoring homosexuality as some of them argue about the purity of love more in the same sex rather than opposite sexes. One gets a feeling that even Socrates favored this in his opinion. But we are not sure of how it got contemplated later.
One can get the best of philosophical definitions and derivations about love in this book right through some of the greatest minds of Greek philosophy.

My favorite quote in the book
“Evil is the vulgar lover who loves the body rather than the soul, in as much as he is not even stable, because he loves a thing which is in itself unstable, and therefore when the bloom of youth which he was desiring is over, he takes wing and flies away, in spite of all his words and promises; whereas the love of the noble disposition is life-long, for it becomes one with the everlasting”

My rating is 3.75 out of 5
14 people found this helpful
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justin Philip Milne
5.0 out of 5 stars Two Pages of Timeless Greatness
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2014
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Nearly any reading of Plato will address the conversations between Socrates and the Oracle. If only we could drink from the wellspring of her wisdom and read her writings, rather than simply be able to read Plato's musing about socrates' musings about her words.
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Cygnet
3.0 out of 5 stars Tedious
Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2014
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While I felt I should find great inspiration in this classic work, I found it rather tedious. The introduction was just a “pre-hash” of the book to come, so as I slogged my way through it, I felt like I was reading it twice. For the most part both the introduction and the translation utilized somewhat archaic language, making sentence structure very difficult to follow.

The part I enjoyed was the description of the three genders: male, female, and androgynous. It is my understanding that it is from this explanation of the origin of humans that the belief in soul mates comes. However, most descriptions of soul mates do not mention that the concept is only for the split souls, not for the average male and female who were never merged in the first place. If the translation is accurate, then many present-day beliefs about soul and Plato’s concept of soul mates are at variance with Plato (or Plato’s Aristophanes). By this I mean, after my reading Symposium, I have come to see that the ideas about love that I was taught were Plato’s, were more interpretations of what Plato’s ideas about love were. Like any philosophy, his ideas are subject to interpretation and commentary, losing the purity of the original thought and infusing it with the personal perspective of each interpreter.

I recently read a YA book entitled Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon (Hyperion, 2010, New York) which quotes the Symposium in the Prologue. Upon reading the quotation, I immediately acquired Symposium to read the context of the quote for myself. Ms. Woon’s application of “soul mates” is, I believe, much closer to the mark than the average, romantic version of them.
4 people found this helpful
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Lou Pearson Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars I Like it! (If I didn't have a life I could write more....)
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2019
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I Like it! (If I didn't have a life I could write more....)
One person found this helpful
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Sarah
5.0 out of 5 stars What is love? Baby, don't hurt me.
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2015
Verified Purchase
Do we question love still? Are we but complacent and accepting that love is not real? It saddens me. This book was a touch rough to get through, but the conversations within are worth the struggle.
One person found this helpful
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Scott
4.0 out of 5 stars My first time reading an original work by one of the great three Greek philosophers
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2021
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Not what I expected! A boozy, gay party where Socrates and the other guests take turns discoursing on the nature of love. More readable and entertaining than I had imagined.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Fran
5.0 out of 5 stars Handbag size to read on way to work.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 2, 2023
Verified Purchase
Light afternoon reading, thick pages and decent size print make this masterpiece easy to read.
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Arup sarkar
5.0 out of 5 stars Plato's eros
Reviewed in India on July 3, 2021
Verified Purchase
A seminal work on love
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M.Q
3.0 out of 5 stars Klasse Buch
Reviewed in Germany on November 30, 2015
Verified Purchase
Die Ware wurde schnell geliefert. Die Buchvorschau auf Amazon zeigte mir leider nicht wie das Buch aufgebaut sein würde. Ich hatte gehofft, dass es in Abschnitte unterteilt sein würde, sodass man die einzelnen Reden schneller finden kann (oft ist das bei den Reclam-Exemplaren ja so üblich), aber es ist ein reiner Fließtext. Das heißt, um es am Stück zu lesen ist es ganz nett, aber wenn man bestimmte Teile sucht, z.B für eine wissenschaftliche Arbeit, dann ist das ein wenig ärgerlich.
One person found this helpful
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Fernando Pena Moller
1.0 out of 5 stars Artículo ni solicitado ni recibido
Reviewed in Spain on January 5, 2015
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Artículo no recibido, como tampoco el juego de el mentiroso,ni el AWS GOVCLOUD USER GUIDE ,ni el deTractatus lógico- philosocus
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SarcasticMonk
4.0 out of 5 stars Is Love of something or of nothing?
Reviewed in India on August 4, 2019
Verified Purchase
Love was neither fair nor good. 'What do you mean, Diotima,' I said, 'is love then evil and foul?' 'Hush,' she cried; 'must that be foul which is not fair?' 'Certainly,' I said. 'And is that which is not wise, ignorant? do you not see that there is a mean between wisdom and ignorance?' 'And what may that be?' I said. 'Right opinion,'
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