Plato's Symposium: The Ethics of Desire

by Frisbee Sheffield

Overview

Frisbee Sheffield argues that the Symposium has been unduly marginalized by philosophers. Although the topic, eros, and the setting at a symposium have seemed anomalous, she demonstrates that both are intimately related to Plato's preoccupation with the nature of the good life, with virtue, and how it is acquired and transmitted. For Plato, analyzing our desires is a way of reflecting on the kind of people we will turn out to be and on our chances of leading a worthwhile and happy life. In its focus on the question why he considered desires to be amenable to this type of reflection, this book explores Plato's ethics of desire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199286775
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/28/2006
Series:	Oxford Classical Monographs
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Frisbee Sheffield is Research Fellow, Girton College, Cambridge.

Table of Contents

Introduction1. The endoxa: eros and the good life2. Socrates' speech: the nature of eros3. Socrates' speech: the aims of eros4. Socrates' speech: the activity of eros5. Socrates' speech: concern for others6. ‘Nothing to do with human affairs?' Alcibiades' response to Socrates7. Shadow loversConclusion