Socrates Cafe

Socrates Cafe is the name used by a number of philosophy discussion groups, which take their model from the book of the same name by Christopher Phillips. The original idea for such groups was inspired by Marc Sautet's Café Philosophique [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/05/21/MN79547.DTL Bill Workman, "San Bruno Thinker Spurs Robust Chatter in Cafes", "San Francisco Chronicle", 21 May 1998, accessed 18 March 2008] ]

A typical group meets in a public place, is open to anyone who wishes to attend, and uses the Socratic method to discuss 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.

Socrates Cafes serve the two-pronged purpose of providing a forum in which people can discuss interesting issues and building community by encouraging people to meet and interact.

The Altadena Socrates Café is a southern California group which meets weekly in the summer and monthly other times of the year.

Criticism

In a review of Phillips' book "Socrates Café", Stan van Hooft, an academic philosopher and a facilitator of similar "philosophy café" discussions, claims that "...Phillips is overly optimistic about his minimal format [for Socrates Café discussions] . ... Open invitations often result in attendance by people with the sorts of personality disorder [which] leads them to want to get on a soap box and regale others with their opinions on just about anything. ... Many will lack confidence in their own ability to articulate complex ideas and will feel intimidated by the louder ones. Philosophical discussions very often turn into what I call 'I reckon' sessions in which one person's opinion on the topic is met with someone else saying, 'Yes, but I reckon that . . .'. Then another chimes in with, 'No, you’re both wrong, I reckon that . . .'. Such a series of utterances is not a discussion.... They are merely waiting their turn to have their say. Phillips gives us no hints as to how to avoid this." [pp. 41-42, " [http://www.modernsocratic.com/PHILandCareofSelf.pdf Philosophy and the Care of the Self: A Literature Survey] ", originally published in "Sophia" 41:1, May 2002, 89-134, accessed 11 May 2008.]

Van Hooft is also skeptical about how much Socrates Café discussions can accomplish: "...if there is a satisfactory result, it will often be the result of luck. Phillips succeeds in persuading us that Socrates Cafés are a good thing and often have lucky outcomes, but he does not tell us what would count as success in such discussions or show us how to make them successful. And he does not tell us enough to explain how the specifically philosophical content of the discussions contributes to the positive outcomes." [p. 44.]

Others have questioned the appropriateness of identifying the methods and goals practiced by Phillips with those of the historical Socrates: as academic philosopher Janet Sisson puts it, "...the background for this enterprise [Phillips' Café project] is very different from that for the conversations of Socrates. Plato 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 thinking than to Socrates himself." [ [http://content.bhg.org/books/books.php?type=de&id=1718 Review of "Socrates Café"] , "Metapsychology", Vol. 7 No. 21, 25 May 2003, accessed 13 May 2008.]

Notes