Ideas in Plato and his tradition

When:
April 15, 2019 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
2019-04-15T19:30:00+01:00
2019-04-15T21:00:00+01:00
Where:
Cecil Sharp House
2 Regents Park Road
London
NW1 7AY
Cost:
Free
Contact:
Tim Addey
01594 726296
Ideas in Plato and his tradition

Plato is perhaps best known for his “theory of forms” – the view that things in the material world are produced and shaped by eternal ideas or forms. But although the fact of the theory is well known, the actual nature of forms as envisaged by Plato is badly misunderstood, and this has been the case for many centuries. Thomas Taylor, the great English Platonist, wrote, “The Platonic doctrine of Ideas has been, in all ages, the derision of the vulgar, and the admiration of the wise. Indeed, if we consider that Ideas are the most sublime objects of study, and that their nature is no less bright in itself, than difficult to investigate, this opposition in the conduct of mankind will be natural and necessary; for, from our connection with a material nature, our intellectual eye, previous to the irradiations of science, is as ill-adapted to objects the most splendid of all, ‘as the eyes of bats to the light of day.’ And yet unless the existence of these lucid beings is admitted, there can be no such thing as science; nor, indeed, any genuine knowledge at all.”

Aided by some extracts from Plato and other Platonists, we will take a careful look at what ideas are (and what they are not); what their power is; the effect of ideas on the world we perceive through our senses; and what our relation is to ideas.

No previous experience of formal philosophy is required.

Entrance in free, but donations between £3-5 will be welcomed.

A PDF download of the extract we will be reading is available on our website together with further details of this and other Prometheus Trust’s activities: www.prometheustrust.co.uk (the PDF is on the “London Monday Evenings” page.)