Beierwaltes Seminar VI - The True Self - Concepts of Divine and Human Subjectivity (Guest Speaker: Prof. Schmidt-Biggemann)

As is testified by the Delphic imperative in Plato’s own First Alcibiades, the required first reading in the late antiquecursus Platonicus, Platonism is a philosophy of subjectivity. It charters both the soul’s procession from and return to God as it re-discovers its original intellectual nature in discursive reasoning and intuitive vision. The Platonic notion of the soul as an image of God exerted seminal influence upon early Christianity and medieval and early modern concepts of the finite mind. Likewise, German Idealism throughout bears the imprint of Plato’s rational psychology. It continuesto be a source of insight in modern conceptions of conscious life and subjectivity. Based on Beierwaltes’ analyses of Plotinus’ notion of the self in Selbsterkenntnis und Erfahrung der Einheit of 1991 and Das wahre Selbst of 2001, the sixth seminar will explore concepts of human and divine selfhood in the Platonic tradition.

The Beierwaltes Seminars on Christian Platonism, hosted by the Cambridge Centre twice a year, revolve around key concepts of Platonism and their transformation in Christian philosophy from the Alexandrians Clement and Origen to the present day. After reading and discussing excerpts from the work of the eminent German scholar Werner Beierwaltes (translated into English for the first time), both PhD students and postdocs give papers on their current research on Origen and Christian Platonism. Everyone interested in and working on Platonism is cordially invited to take part.