Rick Lewis is the founder and editor of ''

Philosophy Now ''Philosophy Now'' is a bimonthly philosophy magazine sold from news-stands and book stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada; it is also available on digital devices, and online. It aims to appeal to the wider public, ...

'' and thereby one of the main initiators of the popular philosophy movement in the English-speaking world.

Work

Lewis launched ''Philosophy Now'' in 1991, the first ever philosophy magazine worldwide. This new initiative facilitated a wave of popular philosophy activities in Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere, which has since strengthened, and to the present owes much of its impetus to Lewis' work. A few years after launching the magazine, Lewis succeeded in having it accepted by the UK news trade, making it the first philosophy title to appear on ordinary news stands. In the mid-1990s,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and other countries saw a wave of philosophy cafés, informal philosophy meetings held in cafes. The first of these were created by

Marc Sautet Marc Sautet (25 February 1947 – 3 March 1998) was a French writer, teacher, translator (mainly of Nietzsche), and philosopher. He was a Doctor of Philosophy (B. Litt.) at the Paris Institute of Political Studies. Sautet was a former Trotskyist w ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and by the late 1990s they numbered in the hundreds. In 1998 Lewis and his ''Philosophy Now'' colleague Bryn R. Williams were among the first to import this innovation into

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, adapting it to the local culture by holding philosophy meetings in pubs rather than cafés. Their first Pub Philosophy meeting was held at The Glassblower in Piccadilly Circus, and was reported on by Radio London; later meetings took place in another West End pub, The Clachan.Drinks & Thinks. ''Philosophy Now'' Issue 20, Spring 1998. Lewis lives in South

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and has been a guest on philosophy-related programmes on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and elsewhere. He also translated and publish the Philosophy Now in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

for the first time with AmirAli Maleki, the founder and editor of Praxis Publication.

References

External links

Philosophy Now
official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Rick Living people British magazine editors Year of birth missing (living people) Philosophy journalists