Plato's Symposium The Ethics of Desire [Hardcover]

Frisbee Sheffield argues that theSymposiumhas 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.

Introduction
1. The endoxa: eros and the good life
2. Socrates' speech: the nature of eros
3. Socrates' speech: the aims of eros
4. Socrates' speech: the activity of eros
5. Socrates' speech: concern for others
6. `Nothing to do with human affairs?' Alcibiades' response to Socrates
7. Shadow lovers
Conclusion

Frisbee Sheffield is Research Fellow, Girton College, Cambridge.