What Is Love? Soulmates, Situationships & Plato’s Symposium

What is love?

An age-old question that seems to have a different answer depending on who you ask.

For this discussion, we’ll use Plato’s Symposium, an ancient Greek dinner-party conversation about love, desire, sex, beauty, friendship, and human connection, as a jumping-off point for modern questions about relationships in 2026.

We’ll explore:

• Which ancient ideas about love still resonate today
• Whether soulmates exist, as Aristophanes famously proposed
• Whether love is chemistry, choice, attachment, or something spiritual
• Why humans pair-bond and marry
• Monogamy vs polyamory
• Whether ethical non-monogamy can truly work long term
• Jealousy, attachment, and infidelity
• Dating apps and situationships

No philosophy background required. The host is a dilettante in philosophy, sociology, and psychology, and the goal is not expertise, but thoughtful conversation. This is a space to exchange ideas, think out loud, disagree respectfully, and explore one of humanity’s oldest questions together.

Optional but encouraged pre-reading: Plato’s Symposium (UW-Madison link)
https://web.education.wisc.edu/halverson/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2012/12/Symposium.pdf