Due to an overwhelming demand, Sean Forester will lead a second session of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. We look forward to his reprise of An Encounter with Socrates: Plato and Greek art at Toronto Pursuits, 2011.

An Encounter with Socrates: Plato and Greek art

A dinner party, Athens, Fifth Century B.C. As you recline, wine glass in hand, an elderly man begins to speak. His eyes show a lively intelligence. The topic tonight is eros, or love. For one guest, love is a biological force; for another, lovers are literally looking for their other half. But our speaker believes love is greater than either of these. He has heard from a wise woman named Diotima about her vision of the Form of Beauty itself… but first he needs to ask a few questions.

This is Socrates as presented in Plato’s Symposium. He is the father of the Shared Inquiry method, and the questions he asks are just as relevant today: How do we know if something is true or not? What does it mean to be a good friend? Does everything crumble and die, or do we have an immortal soul?

This summer we will see Plato address these questions to an entertaining cast of characters. As well as the Symposiu, we will read the Meno, where Socrates leads us on a quest to discover the nature of virtue. We will finish with the Apology, a dramatic retelling of Socrates’ trial.

We will also immerse ourselves in classical art. The Parthenon, Laocoön, and Venus de Milo – these are works of enduring power. The Greek sense of beauty, with its blend of the real and the ideal, may illuminate Plato’s theory of ideal forms. It will surely reveal something about the culture from which his philosophy springs. Join me in an exploration of Ancient Greek art and thought: a true classical pursuit.

LEADER

Sean Forester is Director of Art History and Humanities at the Florence Academy of Art. He studied at the St. John’s College Great Books Program and has led several seminars for Classical Pursuits. As a figurative painter, he is interested in how Greek art and thought can speak to us today.

BOOKS

Participants are required to obtain the specified editions in order to facilitate the group’s ability to find and cite portions of the text during discussion.

Plato. Five Dialogues.
Trans. G.M.A Grube, Hackett (2002)
ISBN-10: 0872206335

Plato. The Symposium.
Trans.Christopher Gill, Penguin (2003)
ISBN-10: 0140449272

John Boardman. Greek Art
Thames & Hudson (1996)
ISBN-10: 050020292