The Lesson of Plato's Symposium
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PLATO's SYMPOSIUM J
50 ccn~ PLATO'S SYMPOSIUM j - - -- ________j e Library of Liberal Arts PLATO'S SYMPOSIUM Tran lated by BENJAMIN JOWETT With an Introduction by FULTON H. ANDERSON Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto THE LIBERAL ARTS PRESS NEW YORK CONTENTS SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY .. .... ................................... ......... ... ........... 6 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION ................... ............................................. 7 SYMPOSIUM APOLLODORUS 13 THE SPEECH OF PHAEDRUS ...... .......................... .......................... .. 19 THE SPEECH OF PAU ANIAS ................. ... ................................. ... .. 21 THE SPEECH OF ERYXIMACHUS 27 THE SPEECH OF ARISTOPHAN E .. ............................... .................. 30 THE SPEECH OF AGATHON ............ .............................................. .. 35 THE SPEECH OF SocRATES ................................ .. ................... ..... .. 39 THE SPEECH OF ALCIBIADES ................. ............... ... ........... ...... .... .. 55 8 PLATO INTROD CTION 9 crescendo, and culminates in the report by Socrates on wi dom and epistemology, upon all of which the Symposium ha bearing, learned from the "wi e" woman Diotima. are intertwined, we m ay set down briefly a few of the more general The dialogue i a "reported" one. Plato himself could not have principles which are to be found in it author's many-sided thought. been present at the original party. (What went on there was told The human soul, a cording to Plato, is es entially in motion. time and time again about Athens.) He was a mere boy when it It is li fe and the integration of living functions. A dead soul is a con took place. Nor could the narrator Apollodorus have been a guest; _lladiction in terms. Man throughout his whole nature is erotically he was too young at the time. The latter got his report from motivated. His "love" or desire i manifest in three mutually in Aristodemus, a guest at the banquet. -
Against Hedonist Interpretations of Plato's Protagoras
Binghamton University The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter 2-19-2010 Against Hedonist Interpretations of Plato's Protagoras J. Clerk Shaw University of Tennessee, Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Ancient Philosophy Commons, and the History of Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Shaw, J. Clerk, "Against Hedonist Interpretations of Plato's Protagoras" (2010). The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter. 384. https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp/384 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter by an authorized administrator of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. Shaw Central 2010 p. 1 AGAINST HEDONIST INTERPRETATIONS OF PLATO’S PROTAGORAS J. CLERK SHAW, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE In the debate over whether Socrates endorses hedonism in Plato’s Protagoras, each side has its standard arguments. Those who think he does (hereafter “pro-hedonists”)1 frequently argue that their view stays closer to the text. On this view, there are clear textual indications that Socrates endorses hedonism, and the hypothesis that he does best explains why he introduces the view unprompted.2 Their opponents (“anti-hedonists”) typically argue that attributing hedonism to Socrates makes the Protagoras fit poorly with other Platonic dialogues in which Socrates explicitly argues against hedonism,3 so that we should avoid attributing it to him if at all possible. -
Beauty on Display Plato and the Concept of the Kalon
BEAUTY ON DISPLAY PLATO AND THE CONCEPT OF THE KALON JONATHAN FINE Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2018 © 2018 Jonathan Fine All rights reserved ABSTRACT BEAUTY ON DISPLAY: PLATO AND THE CONCEPT OF THE KALON JONATHAN FINE A central concept for Plato is the kalon – often translated as the beautiful, fine, admirable, or noble. This dissertation shows that only by prioritizing dimensions of beauty in the concept can we understand the nature, use, and insights of the kalon in Plato. The concept of the kalon organizes aspirations to appear and be admired as beautiful for one’s virtue. We may consider beauty superficial and concern for it vain – but what if it were also indispensable to living well? By analyzing how Plato uses the concept of the kalon to contest cultural practices of shame and honour regulated by ideals of beauty, we come to see not only the tensions within the concept but also how attractions to beauty steer, but can subvert, our attempts to live well. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii 1 Coordinating the Kalon: A Critical Introduction 1 1 The Kalon and the Dominant Approach 2 2 A Conceptual Problem 10 3 Overview 24 2 Beauty, Shame, and the Appearance of Virtue 29 1 Our Ancient Contemporaries 29 2 The Cultural Imagination 34 3 Spirit and the Social Dimension of the Kalon 55 4 Before the Eyes of Others 82 3 Glory, Grief, and the Problem of Achilles 100 1 A Tragic Worldview 103 2 The Heroic Ideal 110 3 Disgracing Achilles 125 4 Putting Poikilia in its Place 135 1 Some Ambivalences 135 2 The Aesthetics of Poikilia 138 3 The Taste of Democracy 148 4 Lovers of Sights and Sounds 173 5 The Possibility of Wonder 182 5 The Guise of the Beautiful 188 1 A Psychological Distinction 190 2 From Disinterested Admiration to Agency 202 3 The Opacity of Love 212 4 Looking Good? 218 Bibliography 234 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “To do philosophy is to explore one’s own temperament,” Iris Murdoch suggested at the outset of “Of ‘God’ and ‘Good’”. -
Glaucon's Dilemma. the Origins of Social Order
[Working draft. Please do not circulate or cite without author’s permission] Glaucon’s Dilemma. The origins of social order. Josiah Ober Chapter 2 of The Greeks and the Rational (book-in-progress, provisional title) Draft of 2019.09.20 Word count: 17,200. Abstract: The long Greek tradition of political thought understood that cooperation among multiple individuals was an imperative for human survival. The tradition (here represented by passages from Plato’s Republic, Gorgias, and Protagoras, and from Diodorus of Sicily’s universal history) also recognized social cooperation as a problem in need of a solution in light of instrumental rationality and self-interest, strategic behavior, and the option of free riding on the cooperation of others. Ancient “anthropological” theories of the origins of human cooperation proposed solutions to the problem of cooperation by varying the assumed motivations of agents and postulating repeated interactions with communication and learning. The ways that Greek writers conceived the origins of social order as a problem of rational cooperation can be modeled as strategic games: as variants of the non-cooperative Prisoners Dilemma and cooperative Stag Hunt games and as repeated games with incomplete information and updating. In book 2 of the Republic Plato’s Glaucon offered a carefully crafted philosophical challenge, in the form of a narrative thought experiment, to Socrates’ position that justice is supremely choice-worthy, the top-ranked preference of a truly rational person. Seeking to improve the immoralist argument urged by Thrasymachus in Republic book 1 (in order to give Socrates the opportunity to refute the best form of that argument), Glaucon told a tale of Gyges and his ring of invisibility.1 In chapter 1, I suggested that Glaucon’s story illustrated a pure form of rational and self-interested behavior, through revealed preferences when the ordinary constraints of uncertainty, enforceable social conventions, and others’ strategic choices were absent. -
Phaedrus Plato
Phaedrus Plato TRANSLATED BY BENJAMIN JOWETT ROMAN ROADS MEDIA Classical education, from a Christian perspective, created for the homeschool. Roman Roads combines its technical expertise with the experience of established authorities in the field of classical education to create quality video courses and resources tailored to the homeschooler. Just as the first century roads of the Roman Empire were the physical means by which the early church spread the gospel far and wide, so Roman Roads Media uses today’s technology to bring timeless truth, goodness, and beauty into your home. By combining excellent instruction augmented with visual aids and examples, we help inspire in your children a lifelong love of learning. Phaedrus by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett This text was designed to accompany Roman Roads Media's 4-year video course Old Western Culture: A Christian Approach to the Great Books. For more information visit: www.romanroadsmedia.com. Other video courses by Roman Roads Media include: Grammar of Poetry featuring Matt Whitling Introductory Logic taught by Jim Nance Intermediate Logic taught by Jim Nance French Cuisine taught by Francis Foucachon Copyright © 2013 by Roman Roads Media, LLC Roman Roads Media 739 S Hayes St, Moscow, Idaho 83843 A ROMAN ROADS ETEXT Phaedrus Plato TRANSLATED BY BENJAMIN JOWETT INTRODUCTION The Phaedrus is closely connected with the Symposium, and may be regarded either as introducing or following it. The two Dialogues together contain the whole philosophy of Plato on the nature of love, which in the Republic and in the later writings of Plato is only introduced playfully or as a figure of speech. -
Phi 260: History of Philosophy I Prof
Phi 260: History of Philosophy I Prof. Brandon C. Look University of Kentucky Spring 2007 Plato’s Symposium Although we will be looking at the Symposium as work of philosophy, its literary qualities should not be ignored. It can easily be read as a Comedy in three acts (see below), with a prologue (the conversation between Apollodorus and his friend) and an epilogue (Alcibiades’ drunken, tragic (?) account of his love). Consider also the narrative complexity of the work. By the time we get to Diotima’s speech, we have the following levels of narration: Plato says that Apollodorus says that Aristodemus says that Socrates says that Diotima says…Why is there so much distance placed within the narration? Is it supposed to show us how far away the Truth lies? The six speeches given by the attendants can be group into three pairs: Phaedrus and Pausanias; Eryximachus and Aristophanes; and Agathon and Socrates. 1st speech: Phaedrus • There is no greater good for a young boy than a gentle lover, and for a lover a boy to love. • Consider Phaedrus’ suggestion regarding the nature of the relation between lover and beloved: “if a man in love is found doing something shameful… then nothing would give him more pain than being seen by the boy he loves. … If only we could have cities and armies of lovers…” (178d-179a) So, gays in the military would actually be a good thing, right? • Gods honor virtue most highly when it belongs to Love. (180b) 2nd speech: Pausanias • There are two kinds of love: Urania, or Heavenly Aphrodite, and Pandemos, or Common Aphrodite. -
Chapter Three: the Socratic Elenchus and Practical Concerns
Chapter Three: The Socratic Elenchus and Practical Concerns 1. Socrates’ Practical Orientation In the Tusculan Disputations, Cicero writes: But from the ancient days down to the time of Socrates, who had listened to Archelaus the pupil of Anaxagoras, philosophy dealt with numbers and movements, with the problem whence all things came, or whither they returned, and zealously inquired into the size of the stars, the spaces that divided them, their courses and all celestial phenomena. Socrates on the other hand was the first to call down philosophy from the heavens and set her in the cities of men and bring her also into their homes and compel her to ask questions about life and morality and things good and evil. (5.4.10) Cicero’s comment may be dubious philosophical history, but it does point to a genuine contrast between the Socrates of Plato’s early dialogues and certain of the Presocratics. To put it quite generally, this Socrates is interested first and foremost in practical concerns, in how best we might live our lives, as opposed to purely theoretical concerns, issues of cosmology and astronomy that have no direct bearing upon matters of general, everyday interest. How can we understand the philosophical activity of the Socrates of Plato’s early dialogues in light of this contrast? How can we thus understand the Protagoras? 2. Socrates and Experts In the Apology (Plato’s portrayal of Socrates’ defense while on trial), Socrates describes the philosophical activity that occupied him for much of his adult life and will shortly lead to his conviction and execution on charges of impiety and corrupting the young. -
A Philosophical Inquiry Into the Development of the Notion of Kalos Kagathos from Homer to Aristotle
The University of Notre Dame Australia ResearchOnline@ND Theses 2006 A philosophical inquiry into the development of the notion of kalos kagathos from Homer to Aristotle Geoffrey Coad University of Notre Dame Australia Follow this and additional works at: https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses Part of the Philosophy Commons COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 WARNING The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice. Publication Details Coad, G. (2006). A philosophical inquiry into the development of the notion of kalos kagathos from Homer to Aristotle (Master of Philosophy (MPhil)). University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/13 This dissertation/thesis is brought to you by ResearchOnline@ND. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of ResearchOnline@ND. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NOTION OF KALOS KAGATHOS FROM HOMER TO ARISTOTLE Dissertation submitted for the Degree of Master of Philosophy Geoffrey John Coad School of Philosophy and Theology University of Notre Dame, Australia December 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iv Declaration v Acknowledgements vi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: The Fish Hook and Some Other Examples 6 The Sun – The Source of Beauty 7 Some Instances of Lack of Beauty: Adolf Hitler and Sharp Practices in Court 9 The Kitchen Knife and the Samurai Sword 10 CHAPTER 2: Homer 17 An Historical Analysis of the Phrase Kalos Kagathos 17 Herman Wankel 17 Felix Bourriott 18 Walter Donlan 19 An Analysis of the Terms Agathos, Arete and Other Related Terms of Value in Homer 19 Homer’s Purpose in Writing the Iliad 22 Alasdair MacIntyre 23 E. -
Interpv3issue2 5/5
Volume 30 Issue 2 Spring 2003 119 Jules Gleicher Moses Dikastes 157 Eric Buzzetti New Developments in Xenophon Studies 179 George Thomas The Parasite as Virtuoso: Sexual Desire and Political Order in Machiavelli’s Mandragola 195 Roslyn Weiss Oh, Brother! The Fraternity of Rhetoric and Philosophy in Plato’s Gorgias 207 Kalev Pehme Book Review: Outline of a Phenomenology of Right, by Alexandre Kojève Editor-in-Chief Hilail Gildin, Dept. of Philosophy, Queens College General Editors Seth G. Benardete (d. 2001) • Charles E. Butterworth • Hilail Gildin • Leonard Grey • Robert Horwitz (d. 1978) • Howard B. White (d. 1974) Consulting Editors Christopher Bruell • Joseph Cropsey • Ernest L. Fortin (d. 2002) • John Hallowell (d. 1992) • Harry V. Jaffa • David Lowenthal • Muhsin Mahdi • Harvey C. Mansfield • Arnaldo Momigliano (d. 1987) • Michaeal Oakeshott (d. 1990) • Ellis Sandoz • Leo Strauss (d. 1973) • Kenneth W. Thompson International Editors Terrence E. Marshall • Heinrich Meier Editors Wayne Ambler • Maurice Auerbach • Robert Bartlett • Fred Baumann • Amy Bonnette • Eric Buzzetti • Susan Collins • Patrick Coby • Elizabeth C’de Baca Eastman • Thomas S. Engeman • Edward J. Erler • Maureen Feder-Marcus • Pamela K. Jensen • Ken Masugi • Carol M. McNamara • Will Morrisey • Susan Orr • Michael Palmer • Charles T. Rubin • Leslie G. Rubin • Susan Meld Shell • Devin Stauffer • Bradford P. Wilson • Cameron Wybrow • Martin D. Yaffe • Michael P. Zuckert • Catherine H. Zuckert Copy Editor Maria Kent Rowell Designer Wendy Coy Subscriptions Subscription rates per volume (3 issues): Individuals $29 Libraries and all other institutions $48 Students (four year limit) $18 Single copies available. Postage outside U.S.: Canada: add $4.50; all other countries add $5.40 for surface mail (8 weeks or longer) or $11 for airmail. -
Plato's Symposium: the Ethics of Desire
Plato’s Symposium: The Ethics of Desire FRISBEE C. C. SHEFFIELD 1 Contents Introduction 1 1. Ero¯s and the Good Life 8 2. Socrates’ Speech: The Nature of Ero¯s 40 3. Socrates’ Speech: The Aim of Ero¯s 75 4. Socrates’ Speech: The Activity of Ero¯s 112 5. Socrates’ Speech: Concern for Others? 154 6. ‘Nothing to do with Human AVairs?’: Alcibiades’ Response to Socrates 183 7. Shadow Lovers: The Symposiasts and Socrates 207 Conclusion 225 Appendix : Socratic Psychology or Tripartition in the Symposium? 227 References 240 Index 249 Introduction In the Symposium Plato invites us to imagine the following scene: A pair of lovers are locked in an embrace and Hephaestus stands over them with his mending tools asking: ‘What is it that you human beings really want from each other?’ The lovers are puzzled, and he asks them again: ‘Is this your heart’s desire, for the two of you to become parts of the same whole, and never to separate, day or night? If that is your desire, I’d like to weld you together and join you into something whole, so that the two of you are made into one. Look at your love and see if this is what you desire: wouldn’t this be all that you want?’ No one, apparently, would think that mere sex is the reason each lover takes such deep joy in being with the other. The soul of each lover apparently longs for something else, but cannot say what it is. The beloved holds out the promise of something beyond itself, but that something lovers are unable to name.1 Hephaestus’ question is a pressing one. -
Lysias and the Date of Plato's Phaedrus by Spiro
LYSIAS AND THE DATE OF PLATO'S PHAEDRUS BY SPIRO PANAGIOTOU It is generally accepted nowadays that the Phaedyus is a relatively late dialogue. Stylometric studies 1) and internal evidence 2) make almost certain that it was composed after the Republic. As to possible dates, Howland suggests 372 B. C. as the upper and 368 as the lower terminus 3). Hackforth rejects Howland's argument but accepts its general conclusions. Although very hesitant to give us a precise date, he ventures the guess of "37o B.C. or there- abouts" 4). Professor De Vries would prefer to bring the date a little forward to 369-67. But he also suggests that a "date between 366 and 362 is not excluded" 5). In this paper I wish to recommend 365 ?4 B.C. as the teyminus a quo for the composition of the Phaedyus. My discussion will center around the possible date for Lysias' death. In Section I I shall present a number of arguments which, taken together, make it virtually certain that Lysias is dead when Plato sits down to write the Phaedyus. I shall then offer in Section II some reasons for thinking that Lysias is alive up to the mid 36os. The consid- erations of Section II are admittedly problematic. However, I think it worth while to put them forth here. I Lysias must be dead when Plato sits down to compose the Phaedyus. There are at least three complementary reasons to 1) For results of stylometric studies cf. W. D. Ross, Plato's Theory of Ideas (Oxford 1953), 2. -
On the Arrangement of the Platonic Dialogues
Ryan C. Fowler 25th Hour On the Arrangement of the Platonic Dialogues I. Thrasyllus a. Diogenes Laertius (D.L.), Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 3.56: “But, just as long ago in tragedy the chorus was the only actor, and afterwards, in order to give the chorus breathing space, Thespis devised a single actor, Aeschylus a second, Sophocles a third, and thus tragedy was completed, so too with philosophy: in early times it discoursed on one subject only, namely physics, then Socrates added the second subject, ethics, and Plato the third, dialectics, and so brought philosophy to perfection. Thrasyllus says that he [Plato] published his dialogues in tetralogies, like those of the tragic poets. Thus they contended with four plays at the Dionysia, the Lenaea, the Panathenaea and the festival of Chytri. Of the four plays the last was a satiric drama; and the four together were called a tetralogy.” b. Characters or types of dialogues (D.L. 3.49): 1. instructive (ὑφηγητικός) A. theoretical (θεωρηµατικόν) a. physical (φυσικόν) b. logical (λογικόν) B. practical (πρακτικόν) a. ethical (ἠθικόν) b. political (πολιτικόν) 2. investigative (ζητητικός) A. training the mind (γυµναστικός) a. obstetrical (µαιευτικός) b. tentative (πειραστικός) B. victory in controversy (ἀγωνιστικός) a. critical (ἐνδεικτικός) b. subversive (ἀνατρεπτικός) c. Thrasyllan categories of the dialogues (D.L. 3.50-1): Physics: Timaeus Logic: Statesman, Cratylus, Parmenides, and Sophist Ethics: Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Symposium, Menexenus, Clitophon, the Letters, Philebus, Hipparchus, Rivals Politics: Republic, the Laws, Minos, Epinomis, Atlantis Obstetrics: Alcibiades 1 and 2, Theages, Lysis, Laches Tentative: Euthyphro, Meno, Io, Charmides and Theaetetus Critical: Protagoras Subversive: Euthydemus, Gorgias, and Hippias 1 and 2 :1 d.