Plato – Shepheard-Walwyn Publishers

Shakespeare and the Fire of Love

SheaFowb429Aslf — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 08:35:45 +0000

‘From women’s eyes this doctrine I derive: They are the ground, the books, the academes, From whence doth spring the true Promethean fire’ These lines, spoken by Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost, embody all the passions of the early stages of love but, as so often with Shakespeare, he seems to be hinting at something more. What is the doctrine he derives from women’s eyes? What is it women’s…

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The Letters of Marsilio Ficino Volume 1

SheaFowb429Aslf — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:04:05 +0000

Volume 1. Volumes 1-10 are available here as a complete set at a reduced price. MARSILIO FICINO of Florence (1433-99) was one of the most influential thinkers of the Renaissance. He put before society a new ideal of human nature, emphasising its divine potential. As teacher and guide to a remarkable circle of men, he made a vital contribution to changes that were taking place in European…

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On the Nature of Love

SheaFowb429Aslf — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:04:05 +0000

Finalist in 2015-16 PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE for Non-Fiction “Ways of falling in love” was one of the topics discussed when nine men gathered at Careggi, outside Florence, on November 7th 1468, to honour Plato’s birthday. After the meal, his Symposium was read, and the guests – now reduced to seven – spoke on the nature of love. Other topics they covered include: “It is easy to fall in love.

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The Advancement of Civilisation in the Western World – Volume 1: Egypt, Greece & Rome

SheaFowb429Aslf — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:04:02 +0000

This is a series of 3 books. Each are available to purchase separately or can be bought together for a discount. Volume 1: Egypt, Greece & Rome Volume 2: The Medieval World Volume 3: The Modern World “The world’s history is the world’s judgement.” Frederich von Schiller, German poet “History is philosophy from examples.” Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Greek historian The general plan of…

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When Philosophers Rule

SheaFowb429Aslf — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:03:55 +0000

“Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils, – no, nor the human race, as I believe, – and then only will this our State have a…

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Shakespeare and Platonic Beauty

SheaFowb429Aslf — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:03:54 +0000

John Vyvyan’s third Shakespearean study was originally published by Chatto & Windus in 1961, but has long been out of print. Looking at some of the comedies, he reveals how the Platonic ideas of beauty and love, as developed by Plotinus, Ficino, Castiglione and Spenser, add an extra dimension to the plays. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It and All’s Well That Ends Well…

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Gardens of Philosophy: Ficino on Plato

SheaFowb429Aslf — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:03:49 +0000

This is the first volume in the Commentaries by Ficino on Plato’s Writings series. What made the Renaissance tick? Why had it such a force that its thinking spread from a small group of scholars in Florence, working in their own brilliant ways but coming together in a small villa on the Florentine hillside where Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) lived, to affect the thinking of the whole of Europe…

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Under the Guise of Spring

SheaFowb429Aslf — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:03:47 +0000

Chosen for Autumn 2014 PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE COLLECTION for Non-Fiction Reprinted with additional material June 2020. A chance discovery provided the author with the key to unlocking the centuries old enigma of Botticelli’s Primavera, a masterpiece painted for the private viewing of a Medici. Its pagan figures in a paradisical spring meadow illuminated the cryptic world of the Renaissance pagan…

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Evermore Shall Be So

SheaFowb429Aslf — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 05:50:14 +0000

‘Having translated the works of Plato and the major Neo-Platonists from Greek into Latin, Ficino was in a unique position to provide commentaries on Plato’s dialogues, explaining the substance of the dialogue in the context of the whole corpus of Platonic thought and Renaissance Florence. To Ficino, however, philosophy was much more than an intellectual exercise. As a canon of Florence Cathedral…

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