Why (and How) Should a Platonist Laugh at Eros? Humor and Love in the “Symposium”

A lecture by Pierre Destrée (Université de Louvain), part of the Winter 2022 CMRS-CEGS Research Seminar, Classics 250, “Eros. Amor. The erotic cultures of the early global world” taught by Professor Giulia Sissa (Political Science and Classics).

In all societies and cultures, the erotic experience is complex. It is shaped by norms, habits, emotions and manners of living the body. Such an experience crosses a variety of discourses and domains of knowledge. We will look at this phenomenon, the erotic, as a matter of desire, pleasure, bodies, institutions. We will go beyond the sexual acts, beyond the controversial notion of “sexuality”, beyond sex as merely a matter of power, and will bring to the fore what was truly relevant in the cultures on the ancient world: sensuality.

“Why (and How) Should a Platonist Laugh at Eros? Humor and Love in the Symposium“