Christopher Phillips


Christopher Phillips is a Greek-American author, educator, consultant, lecturer, and scholar of the Socratic method. He founded the global grassroots Socrates Cafe initiative.

Early life and education

At age 12, Phillips began immersing himself in Plato's dialogues featuring the Athenian philosopher Socrates, and the historian Xenophon's Socratic dialogues. This inspired him, he recounts in his book "Soul of Goodness," to hold his first dialogues a la Socrates during lunch time at Carver Intermediate School in Newport News, Virginia, during the height of the desegregation era. After graduating from Menchville High School, he obtained a BA in government from the College of William & Mary. In 1997, he earned an Master of Arts in Teaching from Montclair State University, studying under the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. In 2000, he earned an M.A. in humanities, with an emphasis in philosophy, at California State University, Dominguez Hills; He has a Master of Science in Natural Sciences degree from Delta State University, the first of his master's degrees. With both a scholarship and a teaching fellowship, at the age of 50, Phillips received a PhD in communications from Edith Cowan University in Australia - the subject of his doctoral dissertation is "Socrates café: an effective mechanism for realising a more participatory democracy". He later received a three-semester appointment as senior writing and research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

Phillips's Café Initiatives

Phillips began his professional life in 1981 as a middle school literature teacher in a six-room schoolhouse in Casco, Maine. He held Socratic circle dialogues with his students. He was also a feature and hard-news newspaper reporter in Bridgton, Maine and Abingdon, Virginia.
Besides the Socrates Cafe, Phillips has launched related initiatives, including Democracy Cafe, Constitution Cafe, Spirit of '76 Cafe, and most recently, a Shakespeare Cafe. This latter project springs originally from the "tragically unexpected death" of his father.

Academic and Independent Scholar Career

Phillips was a 2012 recipient of the Distinguished American Leadership Award, alongside Adam Braun, founder of Pencils of Promise. Phillips has taught the graduate program Media, Culture and Communication at New York University, and the University of Pennsylvania as a Senior Writing and Research Fellow. He has been Senior Education Fellow at the National Constitution Center and 2014–15 Network Fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. In 2024, he was named Philosopher-In-Residence for Humanity in Deep Space.

Published works

Books

The books published by Phillips are :Constitution Cafe: Jefferson's Brew for a True Revolution Socrates in Love: Philosophy for a Die-Hard Romantic Six Questions of Socrates: A Modern-Day Journey of Discovery through World Philosophy Socrates Café: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy A Child at Heart: Unlocking Your Creativity, Curiosity and Reason at Every Age and Stage of Life, Ceci Ann's Day of Why The Philosophers' Club This is now independently published, and is part of a Philosophers' Club [series of books that includes 'Worlds of Difference'Soul of Goodness: Transform Grievous Hurt, Betrayal, and Setback into Love, Joy, and Compassion, with a foreword by Dr. Cornel West

Papers

Phillips wrote the following papers:
  • "Coalition" M/C Journal, Vol. 13, No. 6
  • "The Austrian Philosopher Who Showed that Words Can Spark Humanism – Or Barbarism"," Zocalo Public Square, January 31, 2018
  • "Philosophical Counseling: An Ancient Practice Is Being Rejuvenated," Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children, Vol. 14, Issue 1, 1998, pp. 48–49
  • "Daring to Revise America's Sacred Text", San Francisco Chronicle, Opinion Page, July 3, 2017
  • "Socratic Inquiry for All Ages", Vol. 8, No. 15, 2012, Childhood & Philosophy
  • "Why aren't kids part of 'All men are created equal'?", Huffington Post, December 9, 2014
  • "Live Like Picasso: Nurturing Fluid Intelligence and an 'Artistic Dimension", Huffington Post, December 19, 2014
  • "The Efficacy of the Lipmanian Approach to Teaching Philosophy for Children", Childhood & Philosophy, Vol. 7, No. 13, 2011