Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus

by Plato, Joe Sachs (Translator)

"Joe Sachs is a national treasure. His brilliant translations from the Greek, spanning works from Homer to Aristotle, have long enriched scholars and students alike. He crowns those achievements with this exquisite rendering of two of Plato’s most beautiful dialogues, with an introduction that evidences his deft ability to drill down to 'the thing itself.'"—Thomas Sheehan, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Stanford UniversityThe Phaedrus and Symposium are Plato’s two dialogues about Eros—that is, desirous longing. In these new translations by former St. John’s College tutor Joe Sachs, the reader imaginatively becomes a member, if a silent one, of the conversations Socrates has with his companions.While both dialogues are about love, they differ in intriguing and important ways. The conversation of the Phaedrus takes place in the countryside and that of the Symposium in Athens. In the Phaedrus only Socrates and Phaedrus are present; in the Symposium many participate in the drinking party. But in both, Socrates presents singularly abiding The winged horses and chariot in the Phaedrus; the ladder of love in the Symposium. These compelling images attract and move the reader to ask questions of the dialogues, which in their unique ways seem to reply. The interplay of the two texts may spark an unfolding in the reader’s thinking about love, The context for our thinking includes in one case the subject of tragedy and comedy, in the other the nature of rhetoric and writing, but it is philosophy, and not poetry or politics, that persistently claims the center of attention. The dialogues themselves seem as different as night from day, as urbane wit from rustic charm—but do they point to opposing or converging attitudes toward erotic love?

213 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 27, 2023

About the author

Plato (Greek: Πλάτων), born Aristocles (c. 427 – 348 BC), was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. He raised problems for what became all the major areas of both theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy, and was the founder of the Platonic Academy, a philosophical school in Athens where Plato taught the doctrines that would later become known as Platonism.
Plato's most famous contribution is the theory of forms (or ideas), which has been interpreted as advancing a solution to what is now known as the problem of universals. He was decisively influenced by the pre-Socratic thinkers Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, although much of what is known about them is derived from Plato himself.
Along with his teacher Socrates, and Aristotle, his student, Plato is a central figure in the history of philosophy. Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years—unlike that of nearly all of his contemporaries. Although their popularity has fluctuated, they have consistently been read and studied through the ages. Through Neoplatonism, he also greatly influenced both Christian and Islamic philosophy. In modern times, Alfred North Whitehead famously said: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."

Reviews

[Juliette Grégoire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philosophy is definitely not for me; the highly hypothetical diction is so exhausting 😮‍💨. However! Was really interesting to learn about the gender/sexual dynamics of ancient Greece through the dialogues.