Philosophy: Restoring the Soul

Philosophy's original practitioners understood its primary purpose as that of restoring the soul to its divine likeness through the cultivation of wisdom. Platonic philosophy especially explored right action, reason, contemplation and divine inspiration as the interconnected means through which the inherent excellencies of an immortal soul could be made actual. 

In modern times this original view has, to a large extent, been abandoned – indeed the very notion of the self as an immortal soul is usually considered as a affirmation of non-rational religions, rather than thoughtful philosophy. Without the reality of an essential soul, ethics cannot be based on its powers, and thus the development of the virtues, too, is brought into question. The direction of human energies, in this worldview, becomes a more or less arbitrary matter – one more relative activity in a relativistic universe.

This conference is invited to consider three main areas of interest:

1. Firstly, the original purposes of philosophy, and how its best thinkers and practitioners sought to restore the soul. 
2. Secondly, how we shape our present practice of philosophy in order to draw upon the best of ancient and modern insights into the nature of the self and the universe in which we live.
3. Thirdly, how the notion of the immortal soul can be restored to mainstream philosophy in the future.

Bookings should be received by us not later than Monday, 30 April 2013.

More details will be found on our website or direct from the Conference Secretary on [email protected]