Provides the essential readings for a course on Plato's views of sex and love, or a main component of general courses on ideas of sex and love. This book includes sections on the following topics: Socrates and the Art of Love; Socrates and Athenian Paiderastia; Love and the Assent to the Beautiful; and The Art and Psychology of Love Explained.

This collection features Plato's writings on sex and love in the preeminent translations of Stanley Lombardo, Paul Woodruff and Alexander Nehamas, D. S. Hutchinson, and C. D. C. Reeve.

Reeve's Introduction provides a wealth of historical information about Plato and Socrates, and the sexual norms of classical Athens. His introductory essay looks closely at the dialogues themselves and includes the following sections: Socrates and the Art of Love; Socrates and Athenian Paiderastia; Loving Socrates; Love and the Ascent to the Beautiful; The Art and Psychology of Love Explained; and Writing about Love.