SYNOPSIS
The Phaedrus is arguably the most beautiful of Plato’s dialogues. This comes as no surprise, since the subject of this dialogue is “Beauty in all its varieties, at every level of the cosmos.” In this 3-part series led by community philosopher David Nowakowski, we’ll explore beauty and some of the various other themes that come up in the process, including madness, immortality of the soul, memory & learning, and more!
Every other Tuesday (6:30pm-8pm), February 25th – March 25th at Reeder’s Alley in the Conference & Community Center. FREE & open to the public. Donations appreciated.
Learn more, view & download the reading & discussion plan, and RSVP here:https://merlinccc.org/calendar-event/reading-discussion-series-platos-phaedrus/2025-03-25/
LONGER DESCRIPTION
The Phaedrus is arguably the most beautiful of Plato’s dialogues. This comes as no surprise, since the subject of the dialogue is Beauty in all its varieties, at every level of the cosmos: from the nymph-haunted grove in which Socrates and Phaedrus have their conversation, to the beauty of human bodies (young Phaedrus was exceptionally handsome!), to the beauty of speech and discourse (both mythic and scientific), to the beauty proper to human souls (their knowledge and virtues), to the intelligible and divine beauty at the summit of all these.
In the course of this wide-ranging inquiry into beauty, many other specific themes and questions arise, notably:
(1) The issue of madness, insanity, or mania. Is madness — being outside our proper human rationality — always something that makes us in some way “less than fully human” in our behavior, or can some kinds of madness actually be elevating, helping us to live and act in ways that exceed our proper human nature, and share in a divine life?
(2) Speech and writing. What necessary roles to orality (spoken speech) and memory have? How does the process of writing contribute to, or detract from, our capacities for learning and discourse?
(3) And of course, love. No treatment of beauty could possibly be complete without considering the activity of love, which draws us toward to what we perceive to be beautiful. How can love for another person, if done well, make an essential contribution to our flourishing in this life and beyond — as Socrates puts it, to the unfolding of the wings of the soul, and her taking flight?
While each session will be self-contained (such that you can attend a stand-alone session and still benefit), participating in as many sessions as possible will allow more time to make and experience larger connections between readings, ideas, and questions explored.
SERIES READING MATERIAL INFORMATION
In order to keep our group literally on the same page, we’ll be using a new paperback edition of Plato’s dialogue, published by the Prometheus Trust in January 2025. This includes a translation of the Phaedrus (which we’ll be reading all of, divided across our three sessions), plus six introductory essays by Tim Addey and our workshop facilitator, David Nowakowski, that will offer some additional context and guidance to those interested in deepening their study (not required for our sessions, but they will be recommended as supplements at various points). In addition to providing those essays, if we’re all working from the same edition, it will make it easy for us to read sections of the dialogue aloud together during our evening sessions, with everyone working from the same translation and the same page numbers, so we can easily find our place and stay together.
PREPARATION FOR SERIES
It’s important that everyone in our group get a copy of the book in advance of the first session, so we can read at least the first sections of the dialogue prior to that session and be ready to discuss them with the group. Visit our event page for information about how and where to pick it up!
