Phaedrus book club questions

The reading plan

Meeting 1: Part 1

1. When love and self-control pull in different directions, what should guide a person's choice?
2. How might desire strengthen friendship, and how might it put friendship at risk?
3. What would make a speech about love persuasive to you without making it trustworthy?
4. How might the riverside setting shape the way a reading becomes a challenge?
5. Does weighing love against self-control suggest they are rivals, or could they support each other?

Meeting 2: Parts 2 to 3

6. Does Socrates' decision to recant make him more trustworthy, or give you reasons for doubt?
7. How much weight should a divine warning carry when someone changes an argument?
8. What would distinguish inspired love from desire that weakens judgment?
9. How might linking beauty with immortal souls change the way we judge love?
10. What should count as care in a defense of love, and who should judge it?

Meeting 3: Part 4

11. When is a written reminder enough, and when do you need living instruction?
12. What would persuade you that a speaker is skilled rather than merely convincing?
13. How might the contrast between written reminders and living instruction change your view of what teaching requires?
14. What might a written reminder offer that living instruction cannot?
15. What does closing with a prayer add to a discussion of skilled speech and instruction?

Themes to talk about

Tips for the host

1. Open each meeting with one question everyone can answer, then go deeper.
2. Anyone who fell behind can catch up with the 15-minute summary.