Thursday, September 30, 2010

Plato's Symposium


A huge departure from previous readings, especially as it relates to the time period of the material…Symposium by Plato (This obviously must have been a graduate student’s favorite book, right?  If you said yes, you are CORRECT.).   Symposium is the story of a group of men debating “love” and all its forms during a drinking party (hmm… how often does that same thing happen today in our college residence halls? --- LOTS I’m sure!)  Learning the gods who created love, how love is conceived, acted on, and which sex “loves better.”  A bunch of male philosophers debating love makes for an interesting debate, if you like the philosophical dialogue.  Short read with lots of levels that require patience and concentration.  Don’t read this one late at night or when you are tired as it may quicken the pace at which you grow tired.  Not a huge fan of ancient Greek philosophic texts and I completed my graduate degree.  Please don’t let the graduate student “BB” know I said that.  Maybe if there was a context for reading this book I’d enjoy more.  For a class, I’m sure it’s a perfect read in connecting to the coursework, outside that context as a stand alone… not really.

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