![]() (Shortform note: Like all of Plato’s works, the Symposium is a dialogue: A philosophical work written as a fictional conversation between characters. Diotima’s description of love (Socrates’s speech). ![]() Descriptions of the god of love (Agathon and Socrates’s speeches).Early speeches on love’s benefits (Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, and Aristophanes’s speeches).In this article, we’ll explore Plato’s Symposium on love in three parts: Their speeches and discussions quickly lead them to try and answer the question, “What is love?” Plato explores this question through the different characters in attendance, and in the process explains the connection between love and philosophy. Plato’s Symposium tells the story of a group of Athenian men at a party all giving speeches in praise of love. ![]() Symposium also provides insight into Plato’s views on happiness, education, and reproduction.īelow is a brief overview of Plato’s Symposium on love. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato addresses these questions and more in his Symposium, a work which claims that passionate desire, rather than cold and detached analysis, drives philosophy. What is love? How does love connect to philosophy? How can it lead to human happiness? Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading. This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Symposium" by Plato. ![]()
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