4.6 • 9.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 January 2014
⏱️ 43 minutes
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Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Plato's Symposium, one of the Greek philosopher's most celebrated works. Written in the 4th century BC, it is a dialogue set at a dinner party attended by a number of prominent ancient Athenians, including the philosopher Socrates and the playwright Aristophanes. Each of the guests speaks of Eros, or erotic love. This fictional discussion of the nature of love, how and why it arises and what it means to be in love, has had a significant influence on later thinkers, and is the origin of the modern notion of Platonic love.
With:
Angie Hobbs Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield
Richard Hunter Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge
Frisbee Sheffield Director of Studies in Philosophy at Christ's College, University of Cambridge.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
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0:45.9 | the program. |
0:46.9 | Hello Plato's symposium one of the masterpieces of Western philosophy is a |
0:52.2 | dramatic dialogue set at a dinner party in ancient |
0:55.2 | Athens. It begins with the guests agreeing that having drunk too much the previous night, |
1:00.5 | they better not over-indulge again. The guests include some of the greatest |
1:04.8 | figures of classical Athens including the playwright Aristophanes and the philosopher |
1:08.4 | Socrates. These eminent individuals have a wide-ranging discussion which focuses on the nature of love, |
1:14.9 | what it is, where it comes from, and what it means to be in love. |
1:18.8 | The symposium has said a lasting effect on our thinking about love and physical desire, influencing writers and philosophers |
1:24.1 | from the early Christian era to the Renaissance and beyond. |
1:28.0 | We'd meet to discuss Plato's Symposium R. and Jee Hobbs, professor of the public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, |
1:35.0 | Richard Hunter, Regis Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, and Frisbee Sheffield, |
1:40.0 | Director of Studies in Philosophy at Christ's College, University of Cambridge. |
1:44.0 | Angie Hobbs, Plato, 4th century BC, one of the founders of Western philosophy. |
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