GCM presents ‘The revival of Greek Wisdom in the Renaissance’ seminar

Statue of Plato in front of Academy of Athens in Athens, Greece. Photo: Unsplash

Bernie Lewin, a founding director of the Platonic Academy of Melbourne, will present a lecture entitled The revival of Greek Wisdom in the Renaissance, on Thursday July 14 at the Greek Centre, as part of the Greek History and Culture Seminars by the Greek Community of Melbourne.

The more science advances, the more mathematical it becomes. If it doesn’t add up, then it doesn’t make sense. The origins of this modern approach to science trace back to the mathematical mysticism that emerged in Greece during the 5th century BCE.

Soon after, Plato established his Academy. Mathematical philosophy, science, and technology flourished for almost a millennium before it was lost to the West for another 1000 years.

The story of the rebirth of Greek science in the 15th Century is essential to the origin myth of the West.

But it is not always recognised that this revival was driven by a renaissance of this ancient mathematical mysticism. Science and mystical religion are often thought diametrically opposed. But for these ancients, the one was only an extension of the other. And so too in the Renaissance.

The losing battle against the Ottomans in the East was critical to the emergence of modern science in the West. Envoys attempting to sure-up Western support carried westward a revival of this ancient mysticism. It was this revived Platonic mathematical mysticism – not atomism, nor materialism, nor empiricism – that drove the key developments towards what we now recognise as modern science.

Bernie Lewin has published widely in the history of science, including on the Platonic foundations of mathematics. Enthusiastic Mathematics: Reviving Mystical Emanationism in Modern Science is a historical introduction to Platonic science published by the Academy in 2018.

When: Thu July 14, 7pm

Where: The Greek Centre, Mezzanine Level, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

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