About Manchester Plato Reading Group

Manchester Plato Reading Group is a philosophy reading group that meets fortnightly on Tuesdays at The Briton’s Protection, between 06:30pm and 08:00pm, to read the dialogues of Plato out loud and discuss them. The next dialogue we’ll read is this translation of The Gorgias and our first session is on Tuesday the 29th September.

The Plato Reading Group was founded in October 2024 as The Republic Reading Group. Over the following eighteen months, a committed group of seven read that dialogue together and discussed it. A write up of that experience from those who participated it is in progress and will be shared on the site soon. We also read The First Alciabides over Christmas 2025, which is the first dialogue students are required to read according to the ancient syllabus of Neoplatonic philosopher Iamblichus.

The group was founded to create a community of friends that share in the transformative practice of philosophy. In the ancient world, the interpretation and discussion of Platonic philosophy was considered a vehicle to support the individual to progress toward self-knowledge and self-determination. Our facilitator still believes this to be the case.

Some members of the group consider the reading and interpretation of Platonic philosophy an aspect of their spiritual practice. Others do not, but all have a love for philosophy, dialectic, and lively-discussion. Together, the group supports each other to become better readers, thinkers, and listeners.