Lysis. Symposium. Phaedrus

by Plato, Christopher Emlyn-Jones (Translator), William Preddy (Translator)

Platonic forms of love.

Plato of Athens, who laid the foundations of the Western philosophical tradition and in range and depth ranks among its greatest practitioners, was born to a prosperous and politically active family circa 427 BC. In early life an admirer of Socrates, Plato later founded the first institution of higher learning in the West, the Academy, among whose many notable alumni was Aristotle. Traditionally ascribed to Plato are thirty-five dialogues developing Socrates’ dialectic method and composed with great stylistic virtuosity, together with the Apology and thirteen letters.

The three works in this volume, though written at different stages of Plato’s career, are set toward the end of Socrates’ life (from 416) and explore the relationship between two people known as love (erōs) or friendship (philia). In Lysis, Socrates meets two young men exercising in a wrestling school during a religious festival. In Symposium, Socrates attends a drinking party along with several accomplished friends to celebrate the young tragedian Agathon’s victory in the Lenaia festival of 416: the topic of conversation is love. And in Phaedrus, Socrates and his eponymous interlocutor escape the midsummer heat of the city to the banks of the river Ilissus, where speeches by both on the subject of love lead to a critical discussion of the current state of the theory and practice of rhetoric.

This edition, which replaces the original Loeb editions by Sir Walter R. M. Lamb and by Harold North Fowler, offers text, translation, and annotation that are fully current with modern scholarship.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics

592 pages, Hardcover

Published July 12, 2022

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

[Nathan George · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, before getting to the review, this did not actually take me four months to read, I started, read part of Lysis, and then shelved it for a bit. Actually hunkered down and read over the last couple of weeks. Anyways, on to the review itself.

Another updated Loeb edition done! Great volume overall. As usual the translation, introductions, and footnotes are all great. Shoutout to Christopher Emlyn-Jones who probably does not know he has a superfan out there in the world.

Onto the dialogues themselves:

Starting off with Lysis, a short earlier dialogue about the nature of friendship. Many modern commentators malign this dialogue, thinking that Socrates (and/or Plato) in making the dichotomy between friends being friends with like (which does not make sense for why be friends with like if you possess the same things) or friends with not-like (ridiculous because the good is not friends with the evil) is missing the possibility of friends being alike in some ways but not others. However, I think a good rule of thumb is if Socrates is not making sense, you are probably the problem. Anyways, enjoyable dialogue that people should take more seriously than they do. The idea towards the end of friends being friends with the neither like or not-like, prefigures the way that Diotima (Socrates? [Plato??]) will talk about Love in the Symposium as a daemon lacking things like beauty.

Next up is Symposium, one of Plato's most famous dialogues. Very unique and memorable, it features a myriad of speeches all about Love/love (the god/the emotion). These speeches include trite myths, mocking making everything scientific, Aristophanes very famous idea of the split bodies/soulmates, Diotima's (Socrates') speech, and Alcibiades drunken speech at the end all about Socrates stealing the show. A fun read, but you do have to get past the bizarreness of the Athenian practice of pederasty, which the introductions and footnotes do a great job of contextualizing for the reader.

Finally Phaedrus, a puzzling dialogue for many although I do not think it should be. Phaedrus is included in this volume with the other two because at first blush it seems to also be about love. Phaedrus reads a speech about love written by Lysias (Plato?) specifically arguing non-lovers are better than lovers, Socrates makes his own improved speech arguing the same point, and finally Socrates' last speech where he recants his previous speech. This final speech is the most famous and memorable part of the dialogue. It gets into the immortality of the soul, the fact that knowledge is actually recollection, includes a myth of reincarnation and ascension, and the very famous myth of the charioteer with the good and bad horses. At this point the dialogue for many descends from these heights to discussing rhetoric for the rest of the volume. However this is not a digression, the whole dialogue is about rhetoric and the soul. The dialogue continues with a discussion of if rhetoric is an art (a partial rehash of Gorgias) and then what would rhetoric look like if it was an art (techne). Socrates argues rhetoric would need to understand something as it really is, breaking it down into its constituent parts, i.e. know the truth about it. The the rhetorician would also need to know the souls of his audience, tailoring the speech to the individual. Only then could rhetoric be an art, leading the soul to truth. The dialogue concludes with a discussion of writing vs. dialectic, which is fascinating (and ironic) to read about, although in his dialogue format Plato strives to maintain as much as possible, the discussion aspect of truth seeking.

All in all another great volume! Phaedrus maybe belongs with Euthydemus and Gorgias as all are about rhetoric, but I understand its inclusion here since Socrates' second speech about love is so famous.

Now I (impatiently) wait for the next updated Loeb Plato volume. I tried reading the older editions but beyond the dated language, the lack of scholarship and introductions holds me back. I still have Republic to read, but that is a hefty task probably left for the summer.

[Viktor Den Broeder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lysis was ok, Symposium was very nice, Phaedrus was not great.

The topics adressed are love, friendship, the metaphysical world and single and eternal forms. Not a great fan of the ideology (I think).