Six Questions of Socrates: A Modern-Day Journey of Discovery through World Philosophy (Hardcover)

by Christopher Phillips (Author) "I don't think that virtue-what we call arete-exists anymore.''..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, Native Americans, Samurai Jack (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In his first book, Socrates Cafe, Phillips charmingly recounted how he roamed the country starting philosophical discussion groups inspired by the Socratic method of questioning. Here, Phillips ventures to many lands, including Greece, Japan, South Korea and Mexico, and stages dialogues with people from many backgrounds: Navajo, Confucian, Islamic, Jewish, Catholic. He discusses six questions, each in a separate chapter: What is virtue? What is moderation? What is justice? What is good? What is courage? What is piety? His hope is to "discover an array of timely answers" that may help us achieve "human excellence." The author's own ruminations, and an eclectic selection of published ideas from Tom Sawyer to Thich Nhat Hanh, supplement the 20 or so dialogues. In a final chapter, Phillips argues that the Socratic "pursuit of the virtuous life" may provide a way of countering the "downward [moral] spiral" he sees prevailing in today's world. Phillips's idealism remains refreshing, and the book is valuable for its inclusion of non-European points of view. But as in Socrates Cafe, the philosophy often feels superficial. For example, a discussion in Mexico of "What is justice?" turns into a catalogue of government injustices with nothing more to say philosophically than, "We have to make sure that justice serves all of us in an impartial way." Such insights are obviously not without value, especially for those new to philosophizing, but they make this very much a book for beginners.
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From Booklist
Socrates stayed at home, but his modern disciple Phillips prefers globetrotting. And, as he travels the world, Phillips challenges ordinary people with the central questions of Socrates' philosophy: What is virtue? Moderation? Justice? Courage? In this highly accessible account of his travels, Phillips invites readers to sit in on his far-flung dialogues, debating the nature of virtue with librarians and junior-high students in Athens, pondering the meaning of moderation among neo-Confucianists near Seoul, and contemplating the character of courage with retired firefighters and corporate executives in New Jersey. Alive with the passions of ordinary people from a dozen cultures, these colloquies dramatize the universality of Socrates' deeply humanizing concerns. Professional philosophers may sniff at the unevenness of the dialogues and frequent lapses in intellectual rigor. And even nonspecialists may complain about the frequency with which Phillips interrupts his communal philosophizing with digressive political monologues. But most readers will applaud Phillips for once again making philosophy a living enterprise beyond the lecture hall and the faculty lounge. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393051579
• ISBN-13: 978-0393051575
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #787,709 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Socratic dialogue in the agora (a manual), August 6, 2004

By	Marie Sooklaris "pastoral graphotherapist, or... (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dear writer of "False Depiction" (below): I appreciate your pointing out the shortcomings of this book however I believe it was not the author's goal to educate the reader about Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle so much as to bring the Socratic method of inquiry to the daily world of working people and youngsters, in cafes and K-12 rather than just the hallowed halls of academia. The goal here is not to be more educated about the specific philosophers; rather the goal is to inspire everyday people to participate in philosophical inquiry and self-examination of issues of life, in the mode of Socrates. So even if Mr. Phillips made such a factual error as you point out, it does not detract from the book's value or purpose, to inspire people to participate in this simple Socratic dialogue, bringing together earnest people from diverse perspectives which enrich the conversation and edify the participants. Buy this book if you want to learn to or realize how easy it is to create these Socratic dialogues in the marketplaces of your life.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellence Is As Excellence Does, February 3, 2004

By	"thinkerdoer" (Paramus, NJ) - See all my reviews

This book is a blessing. I read it in one sitting and now I'm ready to dive into it again. In revitalizing a type of philosophical inquiry that has not existed for centuries, the author's approach may be unfamiliar to those brought up on academic philosophy, and it may even be threatening to those who think of philosophy as the jargon-filled inquiry into the microscopic and meaningless and who because of intellectual arrogance would never dream of inquiring with anyone in an egalitarian way. Phillips and his fellow Socratic inquirers across the world -- from seniors in the Navajo nation, to schoolchildren in Japan, to Buddhists and pro-democracy activists in Korea, to diverse people of many walks of life in Manhattan -- interrogate from an array of perspectives those timeless questions that can set us further along a path to excellence, as individuals and as a society (the author would argue that the two go hand in hand). What I enjoyed as much as the scintillating dialogues was Phillips' introduction of philosophical thinkers from non-Western traditions with whom most are likely not familiar -- thinkers who, like Socrates, put it all on the line, questioning and challenged the received wisdom of the day, for the greater good of humanity. This book isn't just a great exercise in self-enlightenment, but must-reading for anyone who believes that a thriving and open society requires deliberative gatherings of the type he models in this book. What this book does is teach us how better to become our own best teachers and our own best thinkers -- with the ultimate goal of becoming more empathatic and humane.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredibly Good Book, September 15, 2004

By	Monica Aldomovar "Moni" (Barcelona, Spain) - See all my reviews

I just earned my PhD in philosophy, and after reading this, I wished I'd spent my time doing what Mr. Phillips is doing. His scholarship is impeccable, I can attest to that. His knowledge of ancient Athens, and his ability to make connections between seemingly disparate areas of knowledge, leaves me amazed and humbled. Phillips is doing philosophy, in both a practical and scholarly sense. He makes me realize that you cannot really do great scholarly work without actively engaging in philosophical inquiry, as he does, with people of all walks of life all over the planet. I can see from some of the other comments here that some react hostilely to Mr. Phillips, and I admire him for taking on these people, who remind of the types of ignorant souls who have stood in the way of all redemptive and forward-looking work in virtually every human endeavor. "Senor Phillips, ojala un dia tenga la oportunidad conocorlo. Muchisimas gracias por su trabajo especial."