Socrates café : a fresh taste of philosophy

Description

A modern-day Socrates takes to the road to bring philosophy back to the people. Journalist-turned-philosopher Christopher Phillips is on a mission: to revive the love of questions that Socrates once inspired in ancient Athens. With great charisma and optimism, he travels around the country, gathering people to participate in Socrates cafes in bookstores, senior centers, elementary schools and universities, and prisons. In this accessible, lively account, Phillips recalls what led him to start his itinerant program and recreates some of the most invigorating sessions. Harvard psychiatrist Robert Coles praises the "morally energetic and introspective exchanges with children and adults from all walks of life," which come to reveal sometimes surprising, often profound reflections on the meaning of love, friendship, work, growing old, and other large questions of life. Phillips also draws from his own academic background to introduce us to the thought of philosophers through the ages. Socrates Cafe is an engaging blend of philosophy and storytelling Content: What is the Question? -- Socrates Cafe -- Seeking Socrates -- We're Socrates -- Who Is Socrates? -- What Is the Socratic Method? -- A Dialogue of One -- Where Am I? -- The Misexamined Life -- Here, Here! -- A Gathering Place -- It Takes a Community -- The Quest for Honesty -- No Place Like Home -- Homeward Bound -- Free at Last -- Brother, Can You Spare a Cell? -- A Wise Place -- Whom Do You Need? -- Friends -- And the Children Shall Lead Me -- Beyond Belief -- Young Sophisticates -- The Philosophers Club -- Younger Folks and Older Folks -- So Old? -- Where Was I When I Needed Me? -- What's Love Got to Do with It? -- What's It All about? -- Remembrance of Philosophizing Past -- The Philosophic Spirit -- Know Thyself at Thine Own Risk -- Socratic Spirits -- Out of This World -- Unexpected Questions -- Embracing the "What Within" -- What's What? -- Inquiring Minds Want to Know -- Why Ask Why? --? -- Too Curious? -- Seeking Ignorance -- The Socratic Sensibility -- True Teaching -- Human Excellence.