Although modern readers and commenters on Plato tend to ignore Plato’s many references to the journey of the soul from life to life, an objective reading of his dialogues should make us pause and ask: if Plato is serious about this, what are its implications? Is it, as some suggest, merely a cultural hangover from a more superstitious age, or does it align the Platonic tradition with other major world philosophies and religions?
We will look at the reasons why Plato and his tradition consider this doctrine to be rational, and read passages from the Republic, the Phaedrus, and the Timaeus which explore the outworking of it.
We will use this paper as the basis for our discussion: Plato on reincarnation
This event is free but donations are encouraged, circumstances allowing. We’ll start the session at 6.30pm: tea/coffee and cake will be available just beforehand. No need to book. Please come back at the beginning of September to download a PDF of the paper we’ll be using.
These evenings include short talks and/or readings from Platonic writings – but we hope they will be genuinely interactive, with all participants invited to contribute to our collaborative search for truth. No previous experience of formal philosophy is required. Every effort is made to make these type of evenings accessible to the newcomer, while allowing the great profundity of the Platonic tradition to step forward and speak to us at whatever level our present understanding sits.