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.
Admission is free, but we do encourage those who are able to donate £5 in order to cover our costs, either as cash on the day or donating through this website
Most of these evenings are self-contained and every effort is made to make them 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. Some of these sessions are coupled together, in order to give us the space to examine more fully particular texts and themes, but even here we will ensure that if those attending have missed the first of the two sessions a recap of what has gone before will help all participants to pick up the main threads of the theme.
We use this paper as the basis of our discussion: Plato on reincarnation
The Trust has run similar activities for some 18 years, and in our experience they allow the most profound questions concerning human life, the nature of reality, and our interactions, to be explored at once both seriously and with good cheer. Our aim is to provide a forum for honest and straight-forward enquiry, but which is unafraid to explore inward-moving paths too often neglected by modern schools of thought.
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