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	About the Book

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	About Plato

	Books by Plato

The Symposium

Plato - Author
Christopher Gill - Translator
Christopher Gill - Introduction by
Christopher Gill - Notes by

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In the course of a lively drinking party, a group of Athenian intellectuals exchange views on eros, or desire. From their conversation emerges a series of subtle reflections on gender roles, sex in society and the sublimation of basic human instincts. The discussion culminates in a radical challenge to conventional views by Plato's mentor, Socrates, who advocates transcendence through spiritual love. The Symposium is a deft interweaving of different viewpoints and ideas about the nature of love—as a response to beauty, a cosmic force, a motive for social action and as a means of ethical education. The Symposium Preface
Introduction

The Symposium

Notes
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‘Translated in bright modern English by Christopher Gill’
Peter Stothard, Times