Rating: 
Summary: a fine coalescing of past and present to gain higher virtue
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: False Depiction of Socratic and Greek Thought
Review: Because I have lectured in universities about Greek thought, participated in a mock trial of Socrates, and often said "We live in Aristotle's world," my wife thought I would be delighted with Christopher Phillips's "Six Questions of Socrates." When she handed me the book, I smiled and thanked her. She departed, knowing that I would become lost in reading. Unfortunately, because author Phillips and publisher W.W. Norton appear to have not read what the Greeks thought, this book is a complete disappointment. For example:
Aristotle was the student of Plato, who was the student of Socrates. Those whom we today call "the ancient Greeks" include all three. In an astonishing and unnecessary ad hominem personal attack on two scholars, on page 31 Phillips writes: "But what both Kitto and Pirsig fail to grasp is that for the ancient Greeks, there was no distinction of any sort between duty toward others and duty toward self." To the contrary, in Book 3 of his "Politics," Aristotle thoroughly discusses the difference between the duty of a citizen to others and to himself. Aristotle concludes that the duties are not the same and cannot be the same, except in an unrealizable ideal world. We can aspire to such unity but cannot expect to achieve it. I have been writing a book about this distinction so when I read Phillips's false claim it struck me as a notable error. This book is inaccurate in much of what it claims about Greek thought, and it is not always accurate about Socrates, either. The book is not a total failure, but it is a complete disappointment. If one is seeking to learn philsophy, history, ethics, or politics, one's time is better spent elsewhere. Skip it.
Rating:
Summary: Socratic dialogue in the agora (a manual)
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: audacious, perspicacious, outrageous, contagious
Review: I guess sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. I picked up this baby for the cool cover, started thumbing through it, and before I knew it, I'd passed the entire day at the bookstore reading it from cover to cover -- then bought it and went home and started reading it again. I took Philosophy 101 about a million years ago and hated it, "thanks" to a dull professor with a PhD in philosophy who was no more a philosopher than any Tom Dick or Harry (and less of one, really, because this guy couldn't speak without using highfalutin jargon in a nasal voice; but he had no critical thinking acumen at all). Phillips' clear writing and thinking is the furthest thing from simplistic; he really pushes you, as he pushes himself, to discover your inner cosmos, to engage in a type of introspection that makes life a thrilling journey that we should take together, recognizing our common ground as fellow humans. Check out his great dialogues with kids in particular. They are superb, as are his own philosophical meanderings.
Rating:
Summary: An Incredibly Good Book
Review: 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."
Rating:
Summary: False Depiction of Socratic and Greek Thought
Review: I never thought I'd see the day that i'd read a book on philosophy, but this book won me over. When I was browsing in a bookstore the other day, it's cool cover caught my eye, then I dipped into it's pages...and I was hooked. If Christopher Phillips is what philosophy and philosophizing is all about, then I am forever smitten with this field I'd once taken great pains to keep at arms length, because of all the pretentious and even arrogant (and worthless) type of thinking I'd associated with this field before coming across Phillips. The coolest dialogue is one that takes place in the Mission District of San Francisco with a bunch of kids, in a section called "Goodness for Goodness' Sake." Out of the mouths of babes comes great wisdom. Out of the book of Phillips comes great thinking and writing.
Rating:
Summary: this book rocks
Review: I never thought I'd see the day that i'd read a book on philosophy, but this book won me over. When I was browsing in a bookstore the other day, it's cool cover caught my eye, then I dipped into it's pages...and I was hooked. If Christopher Phillips is what philosophy and philosophizing is all about, then I am forever smitten with this field I'd once taken great pains to keep at arms length, because of all the pretentious and even arrogant (and worthless) type of thinking I'd associated with this field before coming across Phillips. The coolest dialogue is one that takes place in the Mission District of San Francisco with a bunch of kids, in a section called "Goodness for Goodness' Sake." Out of the mouths of babes comes great wisdom. Out of the book of Phillips comes great thinking and writing.
Rating:
Summary: Socratic? Not by a long shot.
Review: The flyleaf says that "understanding the perspectives of others on these six great questions would help [Socrates] become a more excellent [sic] human being."
Not mentioned is the need to have a diverse group in the discussion so that all viewpoints are heard and may be evaluated.
Phillips does not do this. The groups he gathers are largely those who can be fairly described as leftists or liberals in their political thinking. As a result, the entire book is a prolonged rant against the ubiquitous "them," the rich, the powerful, anyone who doesn't believe that what they have earned or owned is theirs alone.
All of the copious references are to others whose views are similarly skewed.
The Socratic method requires active debate to illuminate all viewpoints. This book provides a single, well worn "we're oppressed" view. It's a shame that Socrates has to suffer at the hands of this approach. Jerry
Rating:
Summary: Socratic? Not by a long shot.
Review: The flyleaf says that "understanding the perspectives of others on these six great questions would help [Socrates] become a more excellent [sic] human being."
Not mentioned is the need to have a diverse group in the discussion so that all viewpoints are heard and may be evaluated.
Phillips does not do this. The groups he gathers are largely those who can be fairly described as leftists or liberals in their political thinking. As a result, the entire book is a prolonged rant against the ubiquitous "them," the rich, the powerful, anyone who doesn't believe that what they have earned or owned is theirs alone.
All of the copious references are to others whose views are similarly skewed.
The Socratic method requires active debate to illuminate all viewpoints. This book provides a single, well worn "we're oppressed" view. It's a shame that Socrates has to suffer at the hands of this approach. Jerry
Rating:
Summary: Socratic? Not by a long shot.
Review: The flyleaf says that "understanding the perspectives of others on these six great questions would help [Socrates] become a more excellent [sic] human being."
Not mentioned is the need to have a diverse group in the discussion so that all viewpoints are heard and may be evaluated.
Phillips does not do this. The groups he gathers are largely those who can be fairly described as leftists or liberals in their political thinking. As a result, the entire book is a prolonged rant against the ubiquitous "them," the rich, the powerful, anyone who doesn't believe that what they have earned or owned is theirs alone.
All of the copious references are to others whose views are similarly skewed.
The Socratic method requires active debate to illuminate all viewpoints. This book provides a single, well worn "we're oppressed" view. It's a shame that Socrates has to suffer at the hands of this approach. Jerry
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