{"product_id":"platos-symposium-and-phaedrus-9781589881778","title":"Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Joe Sachs is a national treasure. His brilliant translations from the Greek, spanning works from Homer to Aristotle, have long enriched scholars and students alike. He crowns those achievements with this exquisite rendering of two of Plato’s most beautiful dialogues, with an introduction that evidences his deft ability to drill down to 'the thing itself.'\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Sheehan, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Stanford University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003ePhaedrus \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003eand \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSymposium\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e are Plato’s two dialogues\nabout \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eEros—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethat is, desirous longing. In these new translations by\nformer St. John’s College tutor Joe Sachs, the reader imaginatively becomes a\nmember, if a silent one, of the conversations Socrates has with his companions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile both dialogues are \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eabout \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003elove, they differ in intriguing\nand important ways. The conversation of the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003ePhaedrus \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003etakes place in the\ncountryside and that of the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSymposium \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003ein Athens. In the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003ePhaedrus \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003eonly\nSocrates and Phaedrus are present; in the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSymposium \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003emany participate in\nthe drinking party. But in both, Socrates presents singularly abiding images:\nThe winged horses and chariot in the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003ePhaedrus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e; the ladder of love in the\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSymposium.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e These compelling images attract and move the reader to ask\nquestions of the dialogues, which in their unique ways seem to reply. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe interplay of the two texts may spark an unfolding in the reader’s thinking\nabout love, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca\u003ebut for the dialectical motion that must\noccur between the speeches and between the lines of Plato’s texts, the reader\nmust do the work, provoked, invited, and assisted by what they contain.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe context for our thinking includes in\none case the subject of tragedy and comedy, in the other the nature of rhetoric\nand writing, but it is philosophy, and not poetry or politics, that persistently\nclaims the center of attention. The dialogues themselves seem as different as\nnight from day, as urbane wit from rustic charm—but do they point to opposing\nor converging attitudes toward erotic love?  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joe Sachs","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48286755062011,"sku":"9781589881778","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/3917\/9771\/files\/9781589881778_b06212a5-e6e6-41d4-97bc-34c9c2f3d7fc.jpg?v=1772485119","url":"https:\/\/indiepubs.com\/products\/platos-symposium-and-phaedrus-9781589881778","provider":"IndiePubs","version":"1.0","type":"link"}