Socrates Cafe: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy

Arizona Republic

A testament to Phillips's conviction that Americans are hungry to start probing questions.

Beth Kephart

This book is the animated, never-less-than-accessible retelling of Phillips' journey. Phillips mixes the fresh, unscripted dialogue of his subjects with the texts of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and so many others; he weaves his own personal history into the larger history of ideas; and introduces us to the friends he has made throughtout his travels. It is a hopeful, energetic book, one that never loses sight of its purpose.
— Book Magazine

O. magazine

A bracing, rollicking read about the spark that ignites when people start asking meaningful questions.

Oprah Magazine

[A] bracing, rollicking read about the spark that ignites when people start asking meaningful questions.

From The Critics

In an era in which writers haul out tales of the extreme—deadly treks up mountainsides, storms that swallow people whole—Phillips offers a book about conversation, Socrates-style. Phillips is "a man on a mission," an educator and former freelance writer who has been "on the rather zany quest of bringing philosophy out of the universities and back ‘to the people.' " Crisscrossing the country, setting up shop in bookstores, elementary schools, senior citizen centers and prisons, Phillips plants and nurtures nascent questions and heralds the merits of inquiry. This book is the animated, never-less-than-accessible retelling of Phillips' journey. Phillips mixes the fresh, unscripted dialogue of his subjects with the texts of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and so many others; he weaves his own personal history into the larger history of ideas; and introduces us to the friends he has made throughout his travels. It is a hopeful, energetic book, one that never loses sight of its purpose. The Socratic method, Phillips writes, "enables us to bring into better focus, and then to resolve, our perplexities. Not once and for all, to be sure, because new perplexities always present themselves. But in a way that can make us more knowledgeable...more virtuous, Socrates might say."
—Beth Kephart

Publishers Weekly

In an entertaining blend of memoir and philosophical reflection, a former journalist describes his adventures bringing philosophy to the masses through his Socrates Caf . Phillips travels the country starting philosophical discussion groups in caf s, schools, churches, community centers, prisons, hospices, nursing homes and senior centers. In each session, a question from a participant becomes the focus for free-flowing, sometimes contentious, communal inquiry. Questions spotlighted in this book include "What is insanity?" "How do you know when you know yourself?" "What is a world?" "Does anyone have the right to be ignorant?" and "Why question?" A rough version of the Socratic method is employed, characterized as "the sustained attempt to explore the ramifications of... opinions and... offer compelling objections and alternatives." Phillips presents several real discussions in poetically "filtered" form, interspersed with his own lucid commentary and citations. These dialogues are lively and sometimes moving, particularly his account of how he met his wife. But the quality of participants' opinions is often low, on the sophomoric level of such comments as "Communication is meaningless," and despite Phillips's efforts to probe, these dialogues yield few fresh insights. Phillips's own philosophical weakness is in romanticizing questioning as nearly an end in itself, claiming to run a "church service for heretics," even though his belief that "all so-called truths... are never the last word" is itself a popular dogma. Nevertheless, as in the case of the usually silent fifth-grader who wonders out loud about the word "wonder" ("I wonder what other kids think of me.... I wonder what they see, I wonder if they see a good person..."), he winningly showcases a tantalizing method for getting philosophy to thrive more widely. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Former journalist Phillips travels around the country to elicit dialogs, questions, and philosophical investigations from nonacademic participants. Elementary schools, senior-citizen facilities, public coffeehouses, and other well-populated venues provide the backdrops for the discussions he reports in this account of what "doing philosophy" can and does mean in contemporary culture. "To this day," he claims, "Socrates' example continues to teach us how to expand our own intellectual and imaginative horizons." In an accessible format and breezy tone, Phillips shows how his public Socratic forums help many in attendance work through the kind of life issues that would send others for professional help. Among his own boosters are distinguished scholar and professor of philosophy Matthew Lipman and Harvard psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Coles. Both this book as well as the web site (www.philosopher.org) that it complements provide inspirational guidance for those who want to investigate wisdom beyond the halls of academia or at least read about the efforts others are making in this regard. For all collections.--Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Phillips (educator, writer, and founder of the Society for Philosophical Inquiry) is a man on a mission: to revive the love of questions that Socrates inspired long ago in ancient Athens. In this account of his travels in which he gathers people together wherever he can (in caf<'e>s, schools, bookstores, senior centers, etc.), he recalls what led him to start his program and recreates some of the most invigorating sessions in which he aims to inspire every curious mind to start asking questions in order to live a more examined life. He also draws from his own learning to introduce other philosophers in the Socratic tradition. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Harold S. Kushner

Bring[s] philosophy out of the ivory tower and back into the lives of ordinary people, where it belongs.
—Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People

Kirkus Reviews

A rather juvenile jeremiad against the shallowness of contemporary life. Journalist Phillips wants us to think and question more. He wants modern society to be one giant Athenian agora, with people puzzling over the big questions, waving their hands as they debate the meaning of life, furrowing their brows as they ponder the nature of freedom and rationality. He wants us to hold Socrates Cafés. They don't have to happen in cafés, though perhaps the aroma of French Roast will stimulate discussion. They happen anywhere people want to"do philosophy," anywhere people want to"do more than regurgitate" the books they've read. Phillips tells of leading a Socrates Café at Mad Magda's Russian Tea Room in San Francisco, where more than 50 people gathered to discuss"Why question?" You can even have a Socrates Café of one—a"tête-à-tête with only one tête," as Phillips delightfully puts it—any time you ask yourself a question or think a deep thought. Folks at the College II Coffeehouse ponder over what a friend is. (One man claims he has no expectations of any of his friends, and his interlocutor is stunned, asking if that is really possible.) In New Jersey, a gang chats about how you know when you know yourself. The amateur Socrates here are often a touch self-indulgent: take, for example, the erstwhile philosophy Ph.D. candidates who realized he couldn't find true philosophy in the groves of academe (because ivory-tower pointy heads"imagine themselves to be philosophers, but they aren't real philosophers") or the cardboard lawyer in West Virginia (he's a great success, but he hates the law and feelstrapped).We've heard thiskvetching before, and there's nothing especially philosophical about it. Some readers will put this down halfway through, driven mad by the sophomoric tone—but anyone who misses those dorm-room chats may be inspired to start a Socrates Café of his own.