Plato the Orphic philosopher?

Although modern rationalist scholarship has been reluctant to acknowledge how much Orphic material underpinned the philosophy of Plato, references to Orphic myth and cult teachings can be found throughout his writings. The Orphic Derveni manuscript is a relatively recent find which has ensured that Orphism is now more fully recognized as playing a part in the development of western thought and many of the most recent scholars are beginning to challenge this neglect. Writers such as Radcliffe Edmonds, Gabor Betech, Fritz Graf and others have published important works exploring the Orphic teachings and their appearance in Plato’s dialogues and the Prometheus Trust is about to publish Harold Tarrant’s book Chaerephon: Rethinking Platonic Characters in the Light of the Derveni Papyrus.

This session is an opportunity to explore how much the Orphic mystery teachings colour Platonic doctrines of reincarnation, salvation, and enlightenment. We will look at an outline of the Orphic myths, and read some passages from the Phaedo, the dialogue (along with the Meno) where Plato is most explicit as regards his debt to “wise priests and priestesses” when it comes to understanding the soul’s relationship to its beyond-terrestrial experiences.
THE PROMETHEUS TRUST

The Prometheus Trust hold regular meetings in Manchester for those interested in the living philosophic tradition which traces its roots back to Plato and beyond. We meet at Bound & Infinity on the third Friday of each month, from 18:30 to 20:00 with time after for more informal conversation if so desired. These evenings include short talks and/or readings from Platonic writings which we hope are genuinely interactive, with all participants invited to contribute to our collaborative search for truth. No previous experience of philosophy is required.

Admission is free, but we do encourage those who are able to donate £5 in order to cover our costs.

You can find all the texts we are going to use as starting points for each evening on the Bound & Infinity website: www.anywhereoutofthe.world. For more information about the Trust including further meetings visit www.prometheustrust.co.uk.

The Prometheus Trust is a registered educational charity and exists to encourage, promote and assist the flowering of philosophy as the love of wisdom. It aims especially at re-introducing philosophy as a transformative activity, that is, one that gradually draws into activity all that is best in the human self, so that both the inner and outer life are directed towards that which is truly good, rather than that which only appears to be good.

“Beatific contemplation” says Prophyry, “does not consist of the accumulation of arguments or a storehouse of learned knowledge, but in us theory must become nature and life itself.”

The starting point of our studies and reflections are the writings from the Platonic tradition but we rely on the affirmation that every man and woman has within a connection to all the great truths which underlie reality: our joint discussions are aimed at bringing forth and into focus these truths, which otherwise might remain more or less obscured by the complexities of life. The Trust looks to follow the Platonic tradition’s general approach, that merely because Plato or any of the other renowned philosophers of the Platonic tradition have asserted something we should not simply accept it, but seek to see for ourselves whether or not (and in what way) any particular affirmation is true.

Host or Publisher Bound & Infinity