The Symposium Av Plato

<p>''Perhaps the most entertaining work of philosophy ever written ... the first really systematic and serious attempt to say what love is'' John Armstrong, <i>Guardian</i><br><br>In the course of a lively drinking party, a group of Athenian intellectuals exchange views on eros, or desire. From their conversation emerges a series of subtle reflections on gender roles, sex in society and the sublimation of basic human instincts. The discussion culminates in a radical challenge to conventional views by Plato''s mentor, Socrates, who advocates transcendence through spiritual love. <i>The Symposium</i> is a deft interweaving of different viewpoints and ideas about the nature of love - as a response to beauty, a cosmic force or a path to goodness.<br><br>Translated with an Introduction by Christopher Gill</p>