Cecil Sharp House
2 Regent's Park Rd, London NW1 7AY
UK
The pursuit of truth through dialectic lies at the heart of the Platonic tradition: Plato himself called it the “capstone of philosophy” and in one of his most important dialogues, the Parmenides, he shows a young Socrates learning from an aged Parmenides this art. Centuries later, Proclus, one of the last heads of the Athenian academy, wrote a masterly treatise on the dialogue and its exploration of 
dialectic. This evening we’ll read a couple of extracts from Proclus and look at what he called the “three energies of dialectic” and the outline of the basic steps of dialectic. We will see that treated in the right way, the would-be philosopher uses dialectic to pass beyond mere logic to an interior vision, for, says Proclus, “the whole of our life is an exercise to the vision of this; and the wandering through dialectic hastens to that as its port.”
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.)