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

Rating:
Summary: Excellence Is As Excellence Does
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Poetically Socratic and Quintessentially Empathetic
Review: This book is supremely Socratic, blending the imaginative-creative with the critical-rational in a way I've frankly never before seen accomplished by a book on philosophy that will be just as appealing to a general audience as it will be to scholars. Reading the put-down diatribe of Jerry S., I gain a much keener since of what author Christopher Phillips is up against in his noble attempts to combat intellectual snootiness and pretentiousness that only shows how incredibly ignorant and vacuous some peole who "claim to know" really are. I met Mr. Phillips at his promotion in Dallas, Texas, where he read the first section of his book, featuring a dialogue he held in the "agora," or plaza, of ancient Athens (land of Phillips' ancestors), where Socrates himself held court way back when. Phillips really makes you feel that you are there in the agora yourself. The entire book is so enticing, you can't help but immerse yourself in the rich dialogues, as well as engage in a dialogue with Phillips' own probing philosophical meditations that include the best in philosophical thinking from around the globe and across the ages. This book is a masterpiece, plain and simple, and anyone who takes the time to read it without bringing any "baggage" with them, will surely agree.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring perhaps, but neither philosophic nor accurate
Review: Yes, there are some lovely and thought-provoking passages in this book. Yes, it's wonderful to read about discussants from many societies grappling with questions of ethics and meaning. But, this text is not philosophy. It's not Socratic. In many places it's not even thoughtful. In fact, in many places it's flat-out wrong.

The Greeks did not think that "beauty" was equivalent to "order." They did not think that virtue was intrinsically linked with harmony. In this the author is simply wrong. In fact, the distinctions between these concepts are themselves instructive.

I was disappointed in this text. Philosophic questioning should search out the truth carefully and analytically. By contrast, pouring on fuzzy words, often in a foreign language, in response to the great questions will not bring clarity, or if so only by accident.

I suspect that Socrates would have been disappointed in these disputations, and likely would have skewered this author for his carelessness.