Season One: On beauty

Physical beauty is the first step in Diotima’s ladder. In some ways it’s super easy. We know what she means. In other ways it’s not straightforward. It can be uncomfortable, superficial, even dangerous. But is it possible that the problem isn’t physical beauty, but the way our culture sees physical beauty as just visual - rather than the full experience of sound, smell and touch?

To think through this question, Dalia and Simon consider two poems on narcissism and beauty by writer and philosopher Karoline von Günderrode. Günderrode, who lived from 1780-1806 and whose work is only now being translated into English, offers a unique perspective on both - and argues that physical beauty can be more than skin-deep.

These poems can be found in Anna Ezekiel’s translation of Günderrode, Philosophical Writings which was published in 2026.