Philosophy Read-In Group

Please join us for our first January 2020 Merlin Philosophy Read-In Group gathering on Jan. 8th (6pm-7:30pm) at Cottonwood ALC Community Center located at 322 Fuller Avenue.

To start off the new year, and carry us through to Valentine’s Day, we’ll be looking at two of Plato’s most beautiful and poetic dialogues on the themes of friendship and love: the Phaedrus and the Symposium. 

In the Phaedrus, Socrates and his friend Phaedrus journey into the Athenian countryside, to consider whether it is better to love someone who also loves you, or whether (as Phaedrus’ teacher has recently suggested) it’s actually more noble to love someone who does not return your love.  From there, Socrates offers his own speech in praise of Love, explaining how love purifies and elevates both the lover and the beloved to higher and more noble things.

In the Symposium, we find Socrates back in the city, attending a dinner party with a group of friends, when the subject turns to love.  The six dinner guests compete to explain, and to praise, exactly what love is.  Comparing and contrasting these different account, we’ll come to our own understanding of this powerful yet often mysterious aspect of human life.

**PLEASE VISIT OUR READ-IN WEBSITE PAGE TO CHECK OUT THE BOOK DETAILS & DOWNLOAD THE PHAEDRUS & SYMPOSIUM QUESTIONS**