Thomas Taylor laboured heroically in the service of the ancient Platonic tradition, convinced that the timeless wisdom it carries was sorely needed as the West rushed to embrace modernism – that strange half-philosophy of material rationalism. Standing between the old regime of Christian orthodoxy and the emerging ideals of the so-called age of reason, the philosophy he brought before the English-speaking world struggled to find the patient response that any profound wisdom-teaching requires if it is to yield its treasures.

Although Taylor’s work found champions within the English Romantic movement and the American Transcendentalists, the remorseless drive of the West towards material wealth, which sees philosophy as the servant of technological science, played against the delicate beauty of Platonism as presented by Taylor. This lecture will explore the spirit to which he remained faithful, perhaps best captured by the final lines of the Republic, that we should ‘pursue justice in conjunction with prudence, in order that we may be friends both to ourselves, and to the Gods.’


Tim Addey was the chief editor of the thirty-three volume Thomas Taylor Series. He is currently writing a chapter on Taylor for the Bloomsbury Handbook of Neoplatonism. He is the author of several books on Platonic philosophy, including The Seven Myths of the Soul, The Unfolding Wings, and Beyond the Shadows, and contributed introductory essays to five of the Prometheus Trust’s Students’ Editions of Platonic dialogues. He teaches on the Prometheus Trust’s education programme and recently taught the Metaphysics module of The Temenos Academy Foundation Course in the Perennial Philosophy.  

Venue & Admission

18 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3ED

£10 General Admission

FREE for Temenos Academy Members/Full-time students with ID card