Favorite speech: L’art du discours (the Art of Speech? I read this book in French)

Personal opinion, I think this is just another one of these books that makes me feel that we need to stop overly glamorizing Greek Philosophers and we need to start looking at Non-Western philosophy.

Excellent translation and commentary! Good for an in-depth study of the dialogues.

Good introductory translation but masks some of the beauty that makes Plato's work often worth reading.

Two dialogues talking about love.

On the Symposium:
First things first, the reason I found this translation so smooth and entertaining is the language, this is by far the easiest English book I've read.
In the Symposium, Agathon holds a supper with his friends (writers and philosophers) and they all decide to make their devotions and praises to the god Eros/Cupid (god of love). Phaedrus (an idealist) states that an army made up entirely of lovers would be the ultimate force against a state's foes, because a lover wouldn't dare to abandon his boyfriend in battle or even dare to show cowardliness, lest being unworthy of the love. Pausanias (a realist) says that there are two Aphrodites, heavenly and common. The one Heavenly is associated with the love of the soul and the common, the love of the body. He also adds that there "isn't one single form of love" and that "love is neither right not wrong in itself" and "It is wrong if you satisfy the wrong person". He defines the wrong person as the one who loves what isn't lasting, the body, rather than the mind. According to Pausanias, the right kind of love is to love the goodness in your lover in order to learn from him and his wisdom. Socrates defines Eros as the love of something you desire and obviously what you desire, you lack and that a wise man can't desire to be wise, since he is wise already and a foolish man can't desire what he doesn't value. So, it must be one of the intermediate class who desires something, because he is neither ignorant nor in possession of what he wants. He also says that man is capable of producing physical and mental offsprings. Physical offspring is ordinary children. Mental offspring is our achievements in life, and both are produced in pursuit of immortality. This was just a quick review of what happened on that splendid supper and I would happily read the Symposium again in the future.

On the Phaedrus:
A conversation between Socrates and his friend Phaedrus on love, speech-making, the soul, reincarnation and writing. Socrates despises desire as a form of excess and that it brings ruin to men in different aspects of life including love and food. Socrates' picture of the soul is a winged form in the heavens with a chariot and two horses following whatever a god it prefers, and that whenever a soul descends to the earth and posses a body it begins to imitate the god it has followed before its earthly birth. On the writing matter, Socrates doesn't approve of whatever is written because in his mind, writing produces forgetfulness and "disuse of memory" and that people would rely on what is written to acquire knowledge rather than experiencing things themselves. Finally, the scientific way of speaking or writing according to Socrates is to know the truth of what you say, to be able to define everything you say and to know whom to address this speech to.
I really find the Symposium to be more entertaining. The Phaedrus is just so rich with different topics and I guess I will have to read it again to ensure my full understanding.

4* cho Symposium: có 3 cặp diễn từ về Eros và mình thích cặp của Aristophanes và Socrates nhất, bảo sao bao nhiêu nhà văn nhà thơ lấy dùng nó để ca ngợi tình yêu trong các tác phẩm của mình. Một người cho rằng tình yêu là tên gọi và phương thức chỉ ước muốn và khát vọng theo đuổi tình trạng toàn vẹn nguyên thuỷ. Mình người coi Eros là anh linh đưa đến tiến trình học hỏi để hướng tới cái Đẹp, cái Tốt. Mình hơi lấn cấn vì tình yêu đích thực thời đó không có phụ nữ.
3* cho Phaedrus: mình thích phần nói về linh hồn và phần diễn từ cuối về nghệ thuật hùng biện.
Cả 2 đều siêu khó đọc, khó thẩm và đặc biệt là liên hệ cực nhiều đến thần thoại Hy Lạp.
Phần chú thích của quyển này siêu chi tiết

I have only read "Symposium", but I enjoyed some of the more narrative parts, and understood most of it at a young age. He was the "original" plagiarist (all writers are, really - some are just better at slight-of-hand and hiding it). You can quote me on that last bit.

El banquete es enriquecedor. Fedro medio pesado.

My 5 stars are for the symposium only. The perfect read for Valentine’s Day!! Keep in mind what is “love” really? And who is right for you in sentiment?

What a misunderstanding on love!
I pray the LORD leads more people to 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 1 to actually see what this madness is really about. Plato was as wrong as we could be as humans.

Pensum. Lest utdrag fra boken

Només m'he llegit El Banquet, no m'ha desagradat. El millor tros és quan arriba Alcibíades al final, m'agrada el xisme. Les reflexions que es fan sobre l'amor són precioses.