BASC80124 - Socrates’ Drinking Party

Course Description

The setting for this Platonic dialogue is a drinking party or symposium among the elite of 5^th century Athens.  The guests decide to hold a contest of speeches given in praise of love.  Aristophanes contributes a comic speech about love’s origins, while Socrates credits a wise woman, Diotima, for initiating him into the higher mysteries of love. Then Socrates’ raucous young pupil, Alcibiades, breaks into the party and gives a drunken speech not in praise of love, but in praise of Socrates.  This meditation on love is one of Plato’s greatest, and most enjoyable, dialogues. 

Notes

For the first class, please read Plato’s Symposium from the beginning through the first speech given by Phaedrus (Stephanus pages 172a-180b).

Section 18U1 is an in-person course meeting at the downtown Gleacher Center.

Section 18U7 is online. More information and FAQ on online courses can be found here.