This course focuses on the philosophical treatment of love, sex, and friendship. It involves both historical and more recent sources. The course begins with how love is portrayed in Plato’s Symposium. Here we will also consider the relation of love to the activity of philosophy. Then we will move on to focus on erotic love and consider both its virtues and pitfalls. We will then examine the Christian tradition of love, including the writings of Christian existentialist Soren Kierkegaard. We will spend four classes on friendship, considering what genuine friendship demands and how it relates to ethics, especially in the Aristotelian tradition. Finally we will end the course by carefully considering philosophical issues surrounding pornography, prostitution, consent, and sexual assault.