Erotic wisdom : philosophy and intermediacy in Plato's Symposium / Gary Alan Scott & William A. Welton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scott, Gary Alan, 1952-

Contributor:

Welton, William A.

Series:

SUNY series in ancient Greek philosophy.

SUNY series in ancient Greek philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Love--Early works to 1800.

Love.

Plato. Symposium.

Plato.

Socrates.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (300 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Erotic Wisdom provides a careful reading of one of Plato's most beloved dialogues, the Symposium, which explores the nature and scope of human desire (erôs). Gary Alan Scott and William A. Welton engage all of the dialogue's major themes, devoting special attention to illuminating Plato's conception of philosophy. In the Symposium, Plato situates philosophy in an intermediate (metaxu) position—between need and resource, ignorance and knowledge—showing how the very lack of what one desires can become a guiding form of contact with the objects of human desire. The authors examine the concept of intermediacy in relation both to Platonic metaphysics and to Plato's moral psychology, arguing that philosophy, for Plato, is properly understood as a kind of "being in-between," as the love of wisdom (philosophia) rather than the possession of it.

Contents:

Introductory dialogue (172a-178a)

Speeches on love (erôs)

The speech of Phaedrus (178a-180c)

The speech of Pausanias (180c-185e)

The speech of Eryximachus (185c-188e)

The speech of Aristophanes (189a-193e)

The speech of Agathon (194e-198a)

Socrates questions Agathon (199c-201c) and the speech of Socrates (202b-212b)

The entrance and speech of Alcibiades (212c-222c).

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-276) and index.

ISBN:

9780791477663

0791477665

9781441621078

1441621075

OCLC:

436281509