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

by Christopher Phillips

Overview

How people around the world grapple with the great questions posed by Socrates.

What is virtue? What is moderation? What is justice? What is courage? What is good? What is piety? Socrates thought that understanding the perspectives of others on these six great questions would help him become a more excellent human being. Following in Socrates's footsteps, Christopher Phillips—"Johnny Appleseed with a master's degree" (Utne Reader)—investigates these same questions, beginning in the marketplace of modern-day Athens. He goes on to investigate the timely responses and outlooks of people from different cultures and backgrounds around the world: from Greece and Spain to Japan and Korea, Mexico City, and Chiapas, where the region's indigenous people struggle for fundamental human rights. Phillips also traveled throughout the United States, holding dialogues in diverse communities from New York City to the Navajo Nation. Introducing us to less familiar thinkers in non-Western traditions who were kindred spirits of Socrates, Phillips enlarges our perspectives on life's fundamental questions, creating an innovative world survey of philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393326796
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/17/2005
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Christopher Phillips is an educator, author, and pro-democracy activist.

Table of Contents

	What Is Virtue?	9
	What Is Moderation?	57
	What Is Justice?	99
	What Is Good?	161
	What Is Courage?	205
	What Is Piety?	241
	Is Excellence Still Possible?	285
	Acknowledgments	305
	Further Reading	309
	Index	313

Editorial Reviews

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 Caf , 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. Author tour. (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Phillips (Socrates Cafe) pursues philosophy according to the Socratic model, the antithesis of the modern academic: he travels around the world, organizing group discussions in which participants of all ages, education levels, and walks of life lead and follow one another in the pursuit of clarified thinking. The six leading questions he presents to such participative audiences-and here to readers-are literally thousands of years old: what are virtue, moderation, justice, the good, courage, and piety, and is excellence yet possible? As Phillips argues, "By looking at how these questions are conducive to examining particular issues in specific places and times, we can see how universal patterns emerge." And so we readers listen in on discussions held in Athens, Tokyo, Seoul, and Montclair, NJ, among other places. Phillips has transformed the actual records of these discussions to preserve participant anonymity, and so they seem to share qualities with Plato's dialogs, being both realistic and somewhat fictionalized. Educated readers will want to discuss the ideas in this book, which is precisely the author's intent. Those new to philosophical thinking will find it an admirable introduction.-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Adult/High School-What is virtue? Courage? Justice? Piety? By discussing possible answers, Socrates sought understanding and perspective in order to become a better human being. With the same goal in mind, the author took these questions to informal discussion groups throughout the world. They included schoolchildren, the elderly, the homeless, university students, and average middle-class workers. What makes this book so fresh and appealing is how these age-old questions are revealed to be incredibly relevant today. September 11, Mexico's Zapatista rebels, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and Native American struggles are just a few of the huge range of topics that came up. In trying to define modesty, Muslim women gave diverse viewpoints regarding traditional dress, Korean students argued the merits of Confucianism, and U.S. students offered thoughts on conspicuous consumption. The book is dialogue-driven with the thoughts of prominent thinkers like Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Jefferson, and, of course, Socrates inserted at appropriate places. Phillips's smooth, natural style enables readers to feel that they are part of the discussion at hand, making the book engaging and accessible to those who may have been put off by the formality of traditional works. YAs who are globally conscious or naturally inquisitive will find this title particularly attractive.-Sheila Shoup, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

"What is virtue?" Socrates asked. Moderation? Justice? Courage? Good? Piety? Here, Phillips, founder and director of the Society for Philosophical Inquiry, goes on the road to pose the six classic questions to ad hoc forums around the world. Whether Socrates ever considered adding "How much time have you got?" to the list isn't noted here, but seems relevant in view of Phillips's presentation. The point, of course, is to enlighten the reader on how individuals as diverse-give the author credit-as members of the Navajo Nation in the southwestern US and Greeks in modern Athens place value on their societies, and themselves as members. Unfortunately, the feedback within these spontaneously recruited groups (we aren't told much about the process, but they frequently contain students and senior citizens) tends often to be oversimplified and circumlocutory. This allows the author to weigh in-mostly after the fact, one suspects-with his own opinions and a wide-range overview culled at length from contemporary philosophers, academics, and inexhaustible others who ponder fundamental thinking. At one point Phillips quotes the screenplay of Gladiator on the pursuit of excellence; at another he cites the rock star Bono paraphrasing Gandhi. The familiar code of the samurai as evinced in the work of film director Akiro Kurosawa is also given an airing at the appropriate juncture: discussing the concept of courage in Japan. There are a few surprises-a tribal member from the Mexican State of Chiapas, for instance, reports there is no word for "justice" in his native language because his people were never unjust to each other-but primarily, there is a lot of pondering and referencing. Proudly faithful toSocrates, whose mission was, per a quote from Greek writer Gregory Vlastos, "forcing himself on [those] who have neither taste nor talent for philosophy."

Kirkus Reviews