Bernie Lewin – Page 23 – The Platonic Academy of Melbourne

Spring 2021 enrolments now open

Enrolments are now open for Spring evening classes starting the week of Monday, 23 August 2021. Those new to philosophy, or new to Plato, would best take our foundation course, Reading Plato (Wednesdays, classroom & online). For those who missed out last year, Platonism and Christianity is on again. If Read more

By Bernie Lewin, 4 years22 July 2021 ago

Evening class

The Phaedrus from Pico to Derrida

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola — At the age of 23, Pico della Mirandola thought he might bring together intellectuals across Christendom in a convocation of divine ascent and for this purpose he penned an oration that has since come to define Renaissance humanism. The oration was never delivered as his project failed spectacularly and by the age of 31 he was dead, kill by poisoning. ( image source).

In Platonic Love last night we discussed the influence of Plato’s Phaedrus on two very different philosophical schools.

First came the influence on Renaissance humanism through Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola and their revival of the philosophical aspiration towards ecstatic union with the divine:

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By Bernie Lewin, 4 years8 July 2021 ago

Evening class

The Symposium in Oxbridge

Last night in Platonic Love discussion turned to the affinities between ancient Greek homoeroticism and the ‘camp’ culture in British public schools and university from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. This affinity is exemplified by a 1965 movie adaptation of Plato’s Symposium, which was Read more

By Bernie Lewin, 4 years24 June 2021 ago