Week 1

Phaedrus: Love as benefit or advantage, or as (ultimate) sacrifice

September 23, 2025 6:30 PM -8:00 pm

What doubts does Phaedrus suggest about the traditional myths regarding Eros? Is love good, or equally good, for lover and beloved? How is love like (civic and moral) virtue—could it replace the need for courage in an army? Does love mean willingness to die for one’s beloved, like Alcestis for her husband? Why are divine honors and rewards needed especially in such cases? Why would the gods wonder at and give even greater rewards to Achilles, a beloved who sacrifices himself, than to a lover who sacrifices himself (180a-b)? What makes it difficult to explain love as simply either profit-seeking or self-sacrifice?

Reading: 172a – 180b

Readings are from Plato’s Symposium, trans. Seth Benardete (Univ. of Chicago, 2001).