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

by Christopher Phillips

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393326799
• ISBN13: 9780393326796
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

a fine read

When I made the commitment to earn my PhD in philosophy, my aspirations were almost identical to those of Mr. Phillips. After 3 years as a university professor, I can attest that the path he took is the path I should have taken. This book of his is the book I hoped to write myself. The only way to write a book like this is to chuck the security of academia and throw oneself into the world, engaging with people everywhere, with humility and curiosity, and methodical rigor, as Mr. Phillips has done. This book is revelatory at many levels, and my hat is off to Mr. Phillips.

An Incredibly Good Book

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."

Socratic dialogue in the agora (a manual)

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.

a fine coalescing of past and present to gain higher virtue

As a professor in Greece, I can attest to the amazing scholarship of this book. Each section is like the fruits of a firstrate dissertation, only one that is intelligible and usable and relevant to a broad audience. Most of all, Mr. Phillips succeeds in accurately recounting the travails of the fall of the Golden Age and showing how similar patterns repeat themselves today, and how we can learn that it is by no means an inevitable or foregone conclusion that we must repeat the same mistakes. A noble and accessible tome, all in all, and one that we should almost feel an obligation to consider as we try to become more virtuous.

Excellence Is As Excellence Does

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.