The Symposium is one of Plato’s most influential dialogues: its seven speeches made in praise of Love (Eros) during the festival of Dionysus take the reader through a series of deepening insights into the power which draws us to the great ocean of divine beauty and, ultimately, its source which works a magical transformation on the soul. But well before the speeches begin we have a curious episode that may be worth considering, since it is easy to pass it by without too much attention. The teller of the tale of the symposium says that when walking to the party with Socrates, his companion fell into a quiet state of meditation in a nearby porch and, refusing to come into the hosts house until he had finished, he therefore arrive late to the gathering. What does Plato mean the reader to take from this seemingly unimportant aside?
The session is an opportunity to explore it and perhaps see it as a very important moment in the path of Eros, that all philosophically-minded seekers must take.
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 download here a PDF of the paper we’ll be using: Socrates in the Porch
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.