Introduction

Plato: Symposium

In this course, Dr Frisbee Sheffield (University of Cambridge) explores Plato's Symposium. We begin by providing a broad introduction to the Symposium, including the historical, social, cultural and philosophical context. After that, we go through each of the speeches in turn, focusing on three in particular –– first, in the second module, the speech of Aristophanes; then, in the third and fourth modules, the speech of Socrates; and finally, in the fifth module, the speech of Alcibiades.

Introduction

This module provides a broad introduction to Plato's Symposium, including historical, social, cultural and philosophical context. In particular, we think about the institution of the symposium and the importance of erōs in Greek literature, society and philosophy.