4.8 • 604 Ratings
🗓️ 12 January 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
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A Christmas party is where humanity’s deepest truths can be revealed. It’s a space where profound questions like "How much gravy is too much gravy?" “What is partridge doing in a pear tree?” mingle seamlessly with "What is the meaning of life?" The very act of gathering to celebrate is a tribute to our existential longing for connection, love, joy, and embarrassing drunken dance moves. Plato might have envisioned it as a quest for wisdom, but let’s be honest, sometimes the real enlightenment happens while debating who gets the last Brussels sprout.
Today, we're stepping into one of the most intriguing parties in philosophy — Plato’s Symposium. A gathering of Ancient Athens’ most brilliant minds, lounging on couches, wine flowing freely, engaging in an intense yet playful exchange about the nature of love. But make no mistake, this is no ordinary party. Hosted at the home of the tragic playwright Agathon, this gathering is filled with laughter, drama and impassioned speeches. A celebration of intellect and pleasure, a blend of wit, wisdom, and revelry. As the night goes on, the conversation turns from the playful to the profound. What insights do our guests discover? What, indeed, is love? So, grab a seat at the table—because in Plato’s Symposium, the ideas are nearly as intoxicating … as the wine.
Links
Plato, The Symposium (pdf)
Thomas Cooksey, Plato’s Symposium: A Reader’s Guide (book)
Gregory D. Sadler, Plato’s Symposium (YouTube lectures)
Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete, Commentaries on Plato’s Symposium (book)
Pierre Destrée and Zina Giannopoulou, Plato's Symposium A Critical Guide (book)
Note
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0:00.0 | Pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, pan, |
0:07.0 | Psycast. |
0:08.3 | Part two, a whole lot of love. |
0:24.3 | So welcome to part two. |
0:25.6 | If you've just joined us, we're looking at Plato's symposium or exploring Plato's ideas of erotic love. |
0:32.3 | You've missed out on part one if you're jumping in straight here. |
0:34.4 | So we recommend you go back. |
0:35.4 | You've got to listen to the prologue. |
0:36.8 | We've got to listen to Phadris and Porcinius. They've laid the groundwork of which we will now |
0:41.3 | build upon an epic building of love. You really painted a picture there. |
0:47.7 | Thank you. I think I think the next speech we're going to look at is going to the doctor's |
0:53.5 | office to see Erexomachus because we've got a bad cough. |
0:58.3 | I thought there were hiccups. |
1:00.3 | Oh, yeah, the hiccups. |
1:06.2 | Right, my turn. |
1:07.6 | Now, I know that many of you are thinking, |
1:09.4 | how could the merry Aristophanes be such a speech from Horatius? |
1:16.7 | Are you really okay, Aristophani? |
1:19.3 | Eric Samakus, you are a doctor. Stop my hiccups or speak in my turn until I have stopped hiccuping. |
1:26.9 | I will do both. I will speak in your turn and while have stopped hiccuping I will do both |
1:28.2 | I will speak in your turn |
1:29.5 | and while I'm speaking |
... |
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