Sunday Reading Circle: Plato on Love

In this series of meetings, we'll come together to read and discuss some of the greatest texts and essays from the fields of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics: from the Nobel laureates, famous philosophers, both ancient and modern, and influential political theorists.

No academic background is required! Anyone is welcome – as long as you've read the text in advance ;)

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For the February – and St Valentine’s – edition of the Reading Circle, let’s read the most famous book ever written about love: Plato’s Symposium 🧡

The Symposium consists of seven speeches on the nature of love, delivered by different guests at a drinking party. Among the most memorable are Pausanias’ speech, which introduces the idea of Platonic love; Aristophanes’ comic yet profound myth, in which humans were once whole beings split in two by Zeus, and love is the longing to reunite with our lost half; and Socrates’ speech, in which he presents Diotima’s Theory of Ascent (also known as the Ladder of Love), describing love as a drive toward immortality through the pursuit of the good and the beautiful. The dialogue concludes with the drunken entrance of Alcibiades, who delivers a passionate confession of his unreciprocated love for Socrates.

The Symposium is remarkable not only for its philosophical depth, but also for its boldness: it discusses Eros, beauty, homosexuality, desire, myth, and even hermaphroditic beings, combining poetry, comedy, and philosophy into a timeless meditation on love.

Join us to discuss!

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Since the full dialogue is about 70 pages long, let’s focus on the key sections.

In the Oxford World’s Classics edition linked below (translation by Robin Waterfield), I recommend reading the Introduction (around 30 pages), which is very insightful and makes the dialogue much easier to follow.

As a core text, let’s read Socrates’ main speech (through Diotima), found in paragraphs 201d–212d, which presents the dialogue’s central philosophical argument. In addition, feel free to choose a few other speeches that interest you. We can go through them one by one and, ideally, cover all of them together during the discussion.

For reference: Phaedrus speaks in 178a–180b, Pausanias in 180c–185c, Eryximachus in 185c–188e, Aristophanes in 189a–193d, Agathon in 193d–197e, Socrates (through Diotima) in 201d–212d, and Alcibiades in 212d–222b.

Link:
https://archive.org/details/symposium0000plat_j5o4/

You may need to register and click ‘Borrow’ to access the full version of the book.

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Location: this time we’ll meet at our friend’s home near Vyšehrad. The address is Svobodova 135/11. Ring the doorbell with the name ‘Rud’. Sometimes the door can be a bit tricky, so if it doesn’t open, just ring again or drop me a message. Go to the second floor and turn left from the staircase.

Meeting structure: each session will begin with a brief summary of the key ideas from the reading, followed by open discussion.

Please read the text in advance, make highlights, and write down any thoughts or questions that you find especially interesting and compelling.

Knowledge Will Break the Chains of Slavery
Veritas Vos Liberabit ✊