Socrates Café are gatherings around the world where people from different backgrounds get together and exchange philosophical perspectives based on their experiences, using the version of the

Socratic Method The Socratic method (also known as the method of Elenchus or Socratic debate) is a form of argumentative dialogue between individuals based on asking and answering questions. Socratic dialogues feature in many of the works of the ancient Greek ...

developed by founder Christopher Phillips. The groups model their discussions from the 2001 book of the same name by Christopher Phillips and a guide he also developed. Today, there are hundreds of such gatherings, coordinated by volunteers, worldwide.Socrates Café official website
the official website of the Socrates Café movement

History

Socrates Cafés began in 1996, when Christopher Phillips, then a freelance writer and editorial consultant, desired to in some way build on the legacy of historical thinkers. He proposed Socratic dialogues with anyone who wished to become more empathetic, and more objectively critical and creative philosophical inquirers. Phillips' idea of having open-invitation meetings at cafes and other public places and spaces was inspired by Matthew Lipman, the founder of the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children who advocated introducing philosophy into schools and under whom Phillips studied, as well as by Marc Sautet, whose Café Philosophique Phillips became aware of after reading an article about Sautet in 1995. According to Phillips, his version of the Socratic Method was inspired not only by the Greek interrogative elements practiced by Socrates of the ''elenctic'' (Greek for 'cross examination,' 'encounter,' 'inquiry'), ''aporia'' (Greek for 'doubt') and ''maieutic'' (Greek for 'midwifery,' in this case giving birth to ideas one harbors from within), but by the philosopher Justus Buchler's notions of human judgment and query, by philosopher Walter Kaufmann's notion of the "Socratic type" and view that the Socratic Method boils down to the sustained consideration of objections and alternatives to any given way of seeing things, as well as by

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century. Her work ...

's notion of the Socratic persona and performativity. A typical Socrates Cafe group meets in a public place, is open to anyone who wishes to attend, and Socratically explores a question which is chosen by vote or which is announced shortly in advance. Typically there are no prerequisites, and no reading or other preparation is required.

Socratic method

Janet Sisson, a philosophy professor at

Mount Royal College Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally “Mount Royal College,” Mount Royal University was granted university status in 2009 by the provincial government. The university has an average class s ...

, has questioned the appropriateness of identifying the methods and goals practiced by Phillips with those of the historical

Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...

: "...the background for this enterprise ocrates Caféis very different from that for the conversations of Socrates.

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

uses the figure of Socrates as a way of introducing the idea of intellectual discussion in order to promote the pursuit of truth, not as a path for personal discovery. ...To treat opportunities for dialogue as a means of self-discovery is a modern attitude, not the aim of Socrates own original dialectic. American scholars have sometimes encouraged this reading of Socratic endeavors; Phillips' fondness for this line of argument perhaps owes more to idealist or

existentialist Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and value ...

thinking than to Socrates himself." Sisson goes on to stress that "(t)his does not undermine the aim of Phillips' cafes..." Philosopher Thomas Morris has praised the Socrates Cafe concept of good discussion about important topics by common people. Morris, Thomas
The Socrates Cafe: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy
Morris Institute of Human Values, accessed 2008-10-13 David Blacker, professor of Philosophy of Education and Legal Studies at the University of Delaware, writes in ''Democratic Education Stretched Thin: How Complexity Challenges a Liberal Ideal (2007),'' that "one can...only applaud the efforts initiated by Christopher Phillips... In very much an extra-academic (but not anti-academic) spirit, Phillips has inspired individuals to create in their own communities voluntary groups who convene to discuss philosophical questions they themselves have chosen." ''(p. 146)'' Blacker considers the Socrates cafe endeavor to be a critical effort for evolving a democracy, the essential function and mission of which to him is for its citizens "to think for themselves about the lives they want to lead" (p. 146).

References

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External links

Socrates Café Official Website
Deliberative groups Philosophical societies Public philosophy

History

Socratic method

See also

References

External links