An array of academic courses today center on Socratic inquiry, and a
number of them include in their syllabi one or both of my first two
books,
Socrates Café: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy, and
Six Questions of Socrates: A Modern-Day Journey of Discovery through World Philosophy,
which relate my experiences of bringing Socratic discourse to cultures
around the globe in venues ranging from prisons to plazas, libraries to
schools, nursing homes to churches.
Such courses are offered by
philosophy, education, humanities and communications departments. They
aim to develop transferable skills such as critical investigation, and
focus on the role of Socratic questioning in thinking, teaching and
learning as a means for students to become more autonomous thinkers and
doers. Such syllabi generally fail, however, adequately to make the
critical connection with the ultimate and original end of Socratic
inquiry, namely fomenting an evolving deliberative democracy.
Continue reading "The Socratic Tradition - Christopher Phillips" »
The philosopher Jurgen Habermas, in The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1991), asserted that deliberation itself must be the foundation for a consummately open and participatory society. Habermas said citizens must continually and voluntarily come together to exchange perspectives on matters of mutual political interest. Habermas points to the flourishing public life during a segment of 17th- and 18th-century Europe as the ideal paradigm for such gatherings, and believes we must replicate it. He further maintains that the exchanges that take place must have rules of engagement: that there must be civil discourse coupled with discursive reasoning, and that this should be devoid of emotion and spectacle.
