Symposium

What is this book about?

The Symposium records a banquet at which Athenian notables take turns praising Eros and asking what love really is. The speeches move from myth and medicine to rhetoric, until Socrates turns love towards beauty itself; in the middle stands Aristophanes' famous myth that human beings were originally two halves cut apart. It is the classic marriage of Greek literature and philosophy, and the source of the phrase "Platonic love."

Why read it?

It is one of the finest unions of Greek literature and philosophy, and the origin of the phrase "Platonic love." Reading it is reading philosophy and literature at once: the characters are vivid, the scene is alive, and the argument climbs through jokes and myth. On the question of what love actually is, it offers an answer still being argued about.

Core Ideas

• Love is essentially the pursuit of beauty — the response of a lacking being to its own incompleteness.
• Love can ascend: from one beautiful body to souls, virtue, and wisdom, and finally to beauty itself.
• Aristophanes' myth explains love as the search for wholeness: humans were originally halves cut apart.
• Socrates raises love into the pursuit of truth and virtue rather than mere satisfaction of desire.

What questions does this book try to answer?

• What is true love, and how does it differ from mere desire?
• How can love carry a person beyond his own limits towards something eternal?
• Why do people keep searching for their missing "other half"?

Who should read it?

For lovers of literature and classical philosophy, and for readers who want to think hard about what love is — including anyone curious about what "Platonic love" actually means. No Greek is required, but you must accept the indirectness of the dialogue form.

How to Read It

This is a classical dialogue with no modern "first edition"; it is usually placed in Plato's middle period. Wang Taiqing's Chinese translation is widely used, and annotated English editions are helpful. Read the whole dialogue once, then return to Socrates' speech on the ascent; Aristophanes' myth of the split halves and Alcibiades' entrance at the end deserve particular attention. The original is in ancient Greek, but a good edition with an introduction is enough.