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    Plato's Symposium
    Plato's Symposium
    Plato's Symposium
    Audiobook2 hours

    Plato's Symposium

    Written by Plato

    Narrated by Ray Childs

    5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The dramatic nature of Plato's dialogues is delightfully evident in Symposium. The marriage between character and thought bursts forth as the guests gather at Agathon's house to celebrate the success of his first tragedy. With wit and insight, they all present their ideas about love - from Erixymachus' scientific naturalism to Aristophanes' comic fantasy. The unexpected arrival of Alcibiades breaks the spell cast by Diotima's ethereal climb up the staircase of love to beauty itself. Ecstasy and intoxication clash as Plato concludes with one of his most skillful displays of dialectic.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAB Publishing
    Release dateSep 7, 2016
    ISBN9781518934254
    Plato's Symposium
    Author

    Plato

    Plato, one of the most renowned ancient Greek philosophers, was born in 427 B.C. to an aristocratic and wealthy family, which played a prominent part in Athenian politics. Plato in conjunction his teacher, Socrates, and his pupil, Aristotle helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and culture. While primarily influenced by Socrates, Plato’s work was also affected by the philosophies of Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans. Under the guidance of Socrates, Plato devoted himself to the pursuit of wisdom and upon Socrates’ death, joined a group of the Socratic disciples gathered at Megara. Later he travelled in Egypt, Magna Graecia, and Sicily. He returned to Athens and founded a school, known as the Academy, which seems to have been his home base for the remainder of his life. While thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters have traditionally been ascribed to Plato, modern scholarship doubts the authenticity of some of them. His early dialogues are also known as the Socratic dialogues and include Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Protagoras. He followed these with his transitional dialogues: Gorgias, Meno , and Euthydemus . The Symposium and the Republic are considered the centerpieces of Plato's middle period and are considered some of his most revered work, and other middle dialogues include Phaedo, Phaedrus, and Theaetetus. Plato’s Laws is the best known dialogues of his late period. Plato died in 347 B.C.

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    Reviews for Plato's Symposium

    5/5

    46 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Very eye opening. Although it does not have a clearly drawn conclusion, like any great philosophy it lets the listener decide for themselves.
    • 4/5
      Superb acting. The work is an example of the Greek understanding, and profound misunderstanding, of the origin and nature of love.
    • 3/5
      Only some ideas are good, most are crap.

      Such long-winded arguments; it’s painful to listen to their claims. They could’ve made their points in a few sentences but they just keep fluffing about; brevity is unknown to these Ancient Greek sophists/rhetoricians.

      Diotima is very interesting; I liked her ideas, but she’s so stuck up…

      Beware, the amount of references to paedophilia is highly disturbing.