Free Friday Philosophy: The Occult

NB: Our quota for this event is now full, but Veins of London, who are co-hosting it, still have places, so please sign up with them instead: https://www.meetup.com/veinsoflondon/events/316684173/ Free Friday Philosophy is an experiment jointly hosted by Veins of London and Philosophy Cafe London. The idea is to bring our two communities together for an evening of philosophy that is completely free to attend. We hope it might lead to further Free Friday Philosophy events, but for now we’re seeing how this first one goes. As our first event falls on the night before Halloween, The Occult was an irresistible choice of subject. We normally explore what might be called the official history of Western philosophy. This evening, we will look at its unofficial or shadow history: magic, mysticism, Kabbalah, alchemy and the search for hidden knowledge. We will also explore the perhaps surprising links between these traditions and ideas now regarded as part of orthodox philosophy. At the centre of the evening will be the influence of Plato and Neoplatonism: the idea that the visible world reflects a higher spiritual reality, and that knowledge can lead us towards it. We will follow some of these ideas through the Kabbalah, John Dee, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley, before considering their influence on modern paganism and Wicca.