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Plato on Love and Death

The Symposium and the Phaedo read together, from Diotima’s ladder of love to the last day of Socrates.

Beginning. 8 steps

Orientation

  1. Author

    Plato

    Who Plato was, and why these two dialogues have mattered so much to the contemplative traditions of the West.

The Symposium

  1. Text

    Symposium

    Plato, tr. Benjamin Jowett, 1871. Paragraphs 66–67

    Aristophanes professed to open another vein of discourse; he had a mind to praise Love in another way, unlike that either of Pausanias or Eryximachus. Mankind, he said, judging by their neglect of him, have never, as I think, at …

    Symposium, Paragraph 66. Read it in the Library

    Begin with Aristophanes’ comic myth of the original human nature, so that Socrates’ answer has something to answer.

  2. Text

    Symposium

    Plato, tr. Benjamin Jowett, 1871. Paragraphs 139–141

    'These are the lesser mysteries of love, into which even you, Socrates, may enter; to the greater and more hidden ones which are the crown of these, and to which, if you pursue them in a right spirit, they will …

    Symposium, Paragraph 139. Read it in the Library

    Diotima’s ladder: love rising from one beautiful form to all, to souls, laws and knowledge, and at last to beauty absolute.

  3. Text

    Symposium

    Plato, tr. Benjamin Jowett, 1871. The speech of Alcibiades

    When Socrates had done speaking, the company applauded, and Aristophanes was beginning to say something in answer to the allusion which Socrates had made to his own speech, when suddenly there was a great knocking at the door of the …

    Symposium, Paragraph 143. Read it in the Library

    Alcibiades bursts in drunk and praises Socrates himself, a portrait of the lover the ladder describes.

The Phaedo

  1. Text

    Phaedo

    Plato, tr. Benjamin Jowett, 1892

    And the true philosophers, Simmias, are always occupied in the practice of dying, wherefore also to them least of all men is death terrible. Look at the matter thus:--if they have been in every way the enemies of the body, …

    Phaedo, Paragraph 108. Read it in the Library

    Socrates on why the true philosopher, always occupied in the practice of dying, has no reason to fear death.

  2. Text

    Phaedo

    Plato, tr. Benjamin Jowett, 1892

    And is it likely that the soul, which is invisible, in passing to the place of the true Hades, which like her is invisible, and pure, and noble, and on her way to the good and wise God, whither, if …

    Phaedo, Paragraph 328. Read it in the Library

    The soul gathered into herself, and philosophy as the practice of death, taken up again in the argument from the soul’s likeness to the invisible.

  3. Text

    Phaedo

    Plato, tr. Benjamin Jowett, 1892. Paragraphs 625–630

    Now the hour of sunset was near, for a good deal of time had passed while he was within. When he came out, he sat down with us again after his bath, but not much was said. Soon the jailer, …

    Phaedo, Paragraph 625. Read it in the Library

    The death of Socrates, told by Phaedo: the jailer’s tears, the cup taken without fear, and the last words.

Concepts

  1. Concept

    Eros

    How later readers took Diotima’s love as the root of the contemplative ascent.

Cite this entry
Chicago (bibliography)

“Plato on Love and Death.” Reading list. The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society. Last modified November 7, 2026. https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/plato-on-love-and-death.

Chicago (note)

“Plato on Love and Death,” reading list, The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, last modified November 7, 2026, https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/plato-on-love-and-death.

MLA

“Plato on Love and Death.” The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, 7 Nov. 2026, www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/plato-on-love-and-death.

BibTeX
@misc{reading-lists-plato-on-love-and-death,
  title = {{Plato on Love and Death}},
  howpublished = {The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society},
  note = {Reading list. Last modified November 7, 2026},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/plato-on-love-and-death}
}

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