Who speaks for the trees?
At our Democracy Cafe yesterday at a zocalo (plaza) in a Mexican pueblo, a 10-year-old child, her 1-year-old sister in her arms, stood on the periphery listening intently, but was too shy to take part. So I approached her after the formal dialogue ended, to ask what her insights were, and she opened up, as […]
Democracy Cafe — A System Unrigged
Thanks to two donations (one of them incredibly generous), the first leg of the ‘Democracy Cafe — A System Unrigged’ journey across the fruited plain begins tomorrow. First up, middle and high schools for three full days in Mt. Shasta California (with also a stop at elementary schools), all of them open to the community, […]
My tattoo, Arête, & Meraki — Greek words to live by
At the not so tender age of 57, I decided to get a tattoo — or tattoos, if you consider that there are two halves of a heart emblazoned on my forearms, inside of which are the Greek concepts arête (on my left forearm) and meraki (on my right), which were drilled into my noggin at a […]
Socrates Cafe, the Military, and Democracy — a message that made my year
This message from an Army Captain made my year: Dr. Phillips, Thank you for your work towards improving democracy and healthy dialogue throughout the world. I am a company commander in the U.S. Army, and I started hosting Socrates Café dialogues with my junior leaders weekly while we were deployed to Iraq. One intriguing discussion […]
Anyone can, and should, philosophize
Cross posting this blog of mine that I originally published on the Childing.org site
Socratizing in Beaumont
I love that the organizer of the Socrates Cafe in Beaumont, Texas, sees that his group is a thriving one, even though attendance each gathering is just a bit more than a handful. Numbers aren’t the name of the game with Socrates Cafe and attendance. Even if it’s just a few, or six, it can […]
Walter Kaufmann — A Person of Keen Mind and Pure Heart
Recently, I received an email from the person who’d inaugurated a Socrates Cafe years back in midtown Manhattan asking me and others, “who is your favorite person from history in the millennium immediately preceding Y2K?” Some of the criteria he said we could use in making our pick included: “Pick someone you happen to like … […]
American Spoken Here
After my wonderful give-and-take about Childing on Wednesday with the hosts and listeners of WLRN public radio’s acclaimed Topical Currents program, which airs throughout Miami proper and Southern Florida, I arranged for an Uber driver to whisk me to Miami airport. When I climbed into the car, I asked my driver if she knew at which terminal […]
Democracy Cafe rising
While Democracy Cafe is the name of our nonprofit, it’s also the name of a specific inquiry initiative of ours. And it’s really cool that it’s catching on. The latest new group has started in Sebastopol, California. Another one recently got underway in England. But I guess it’s not so surprising this is catching on. […]
Why It’s a Must to Build Philosophical Bridges in Times of Deep Political Divides
In a couple of my Socrates Cafe podcasts of late, I’ve had guests, admirable souls, a big part of whose life work is aimed at enabling and empowering us to become better citizens, to give us the tools to become more involved and engaged and make a difference. But when I ask these well-intentioned folks […]