Our Socrates Cafe podcasts — why you might want to tune in
Are you checking out our Socrates Cafe podcasts? If not, please give ’em a whirl. We have covered a range of timely and timeless questions — to the ideal purpose of money, to the power and purpose of meaningful conversations, to when should we laugh, to what it means to be an engaged and enlightened […]
On being authentic
(Please note: I didn’t write this blog until I’d made several attempts to communicate directly, and gently, with those concerned, only to get either ignored altogether or a big brush-off). Snarky as it may seem, the larger point, that those who maintain and paint themselves as attempting to create a certain kind of world, should […]
“An outburst of Socratic dialogue” in Pakistan
I don’t know how this student in Lahore, Pakistan, found out about Socrates Cafe, but am so glad he did. I hope that the “outburst of Socratic dialogue and philosophical ideas [that] can be noticed among the young adults who belong to diverse backgrounds” is something he taps into, since he notes that “they rarely […]
A Love-In at Socrates Cafe
Are you a die-hard romantic, like me, a hopelessly hopeful romantic? Might you, when you least expect it, fall in love with the love of your life at a Socrates Cafe? It’s Valentine’s Day; maybe check out this snipped from my Socrates In Love: Philosophy for a Die-Hard Romantic: Strange Yet Familiar “You were defying my […]
On the Importance of Equal Consideration
I was prompted to think, during and after my rich Socrates Cafe Podcast exchange with progressivist scholar, activist, prof and civic entrepreneur Stephen Duncombe — here’s part 1 of our video podcast, and here’s part 2 — a good bit more about what I wrote in my previous blog. It was all about how we should assume, until and […]
How our youngest can show us the way when it comes to giving the benefit of the doubt, and assuming the best in others
In my previous post, I ballyhooed the fact that those taking part in our inquiry initiatives “give one another the benefit of the doubt. We don’t assume the worst in folks. We assume, rather, that each and everyone involved is operating from a position of sincerity — and they have a singular opportunity to reveal their […]
What makes us stand out
We at our nonprofit are not and never will have a political agenda per se — except to create more open selves, more open societies, ones that bridges the chasms and divides between one human soul and another and prompt us to realize keenly that we’re all in this together. At Socrates Cafes around the […]
another Philosophers’ Club manifesto
The ‘manifestos’ for why Philosophers’ Clubs — Socratic inquiry groups for kids — are coming in fast and furious these days from educators. Well, they’re coming in, and there must be a reason. Perhaps because adults, especially adult educators, are coming to realize that if we’re going to raise a crop of adults-to-be who are […]
Why Philosophers’ Club is so meaningful to this teacher
Fran Brethel is a longtime and beloved elementary school teacher at PS 115Q, a Glen Oaks School which is right on the border of Queens and Nassau County on Long Island. She wrote me a good while back out of the blue to say: “I am a fourth grade GT [Gifted & Talented] teacher in […]
How do we recognize, much less inquire thoughtfully about, everyday racism of which so many are blithely unaware?
Last Saturday, while in Mexico, I attended a party that was an early celebration of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead — a much more significant and often-noncommercial kindred to our Halloween), which officially launches today? As marvelous a country as it is in so many ways, Mexico is extremely racist, as most […]