Symposium

if you want to become better acquainted with the nature of love and what love is, I strongly recommend this book. Symposium is an exceptional literary work that delves deep into the human psyche. It is a thought-provoking and insightful book that explores the nature of love, desire, and relationships. The author's writing style is engaging and eloquent, making it easy for readers to become fully immersed in the story. From the very first page, I was hooked, and I found myself eagerly turning the pages to see what would happen next. One of the things that I appreciated about the Symposium is its ability to stimulate discussion and debate. The book raises many important questions about the nature of love and its role in our lives. These questions are not easy to answer, but they are worth contemplating, and I found myself pondering them long after I finished reading the book. Overall, I highly recommend Symposium to anyone who enjoys thought-provoking literature that challenges the mind and touches the heart. This book is a true masterpiece that will leave a lasting impression on anyone who reads it.

Symposium is a beautiful narration of a high-society dinner party in Athens in 416 BC, in which all guests, including Aristodemus, Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Alcibiades, Aristophanes, Agathon and of course Socrates each give a short speech eulogising love. The peak of the dialogue is Socrates speech which re-tells his learning about love from a woman named Diotima. Diotima tells us that the object of love is goodness not beauty, and also that loves object is immortality through procreation through a beautiful medium. The final speech is that of Alcibiades who insists on eulogising Socrates. The book gives a lot of insight in to the homosexuality of ancient Athenian and Greek society, it's quite surprising if not a little shocking. Symposium is a beautiful little book, and easy to read, like all of Plato's dialogues. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in Classical Greek culture.

the book has a few stains and marks on it but for a pound i can't complain really

Book as described, arrived very quickly and well packed. Perfect service.

Really good read and excellent for acquainting yourself with Plato's style if you haven't read anything before. It's also helped by the introduction is breif but informative . If you are interested I would definitely recommend !

It’s good for academic researches, if you’re interested in Ancient Greek society and their view on love.

A very interesting philosophical read in which, again, Plato’s protagonist is Socrates. It is a guidebook for everyone exploring concept of Eros vs Agape that later became object of study for Christian philosophy (i.e. St Augustine) being the foundation of Western values.

Love is a blind force that moves everything, it is beyond good and bad, he has no rational meaning. This is the main message in this dialogue.

É obra de filosofia essencial que precisa ser lida e compreendida para ampliar o pensamento e a diferença do que pensamos do amor nas diferentes eras da civilização ocidental. A introdução e notas da edição Oxford são absolutamente elucidativas e nos convidam a nos aprofundar no tema. É obra pra lá de recomendável.

Très bon livre.

A fascinating insight on several ancient views of love, including Aristotle's in-depth analysis of what love's properties are and what it is about. The preface contains very useful contextual information while relating it to different parts of Symposium. Plato's Symposium itself reads as a story, making it a read easier than it might be otherwise. All in all, the information is well thought out and dictated to the reader in a very efficient way. As someone who enjoys casual philosophy, I recommend it to anyone else who does.

Interesting read.

Translated to very easy to read language with a lot of notes and reference reading matter referred to.