Reading Plato's Symposium

Lacan decided that an analysis of the Symposium of Plato in his Seminar of 1960 - 1961 would be an illuminating detour by which to investigate the transference relation in psychoanalysis.[1] This investigation centred on the question of the desire of the analyst and the ethical implication of where the analyst ought to situate himself in order to respond to the transference. Central to the discussion is the concept of identification and the role of the ego ideal.…