Resumen

PHILLIPS, Christopher. Socratic inquiry for all ages. child.philo [online]. 2012, vol.8, n.15, pp.131-151. ISSN 1984-5987.  https://doi.org/10.12957/childphilo.017.60505.

In 1996, the author inaugurated philosophical inquiry groups called Socrates Café as one modest effort to counter in the United States what he perceived as rampant self-absorption and pervasive intolerance among its citizenry, and more positively, to create a type of ongoing dialogical inquiry group, more often than not in a public setting, that created bonds of empathy and understanding among participants. To make even modest inroads in achieving such a goal, however, it seemed incumbent to the author to have the exchanges driven by a method that would not so much force but inspire participants to challenge their own and one another's dogma, so that any desultory habits that allowed for complacency in thought would be supplanted by ones that inspired participants' critical acumen and imaginative vision. Over the last 16 years, the author has travelled extensively across the globe to engage with diverse others in Socratic inquiry - not just in places like cafés, libraries, senior centers, but in prisons, nursing homes, institutions for the mentally ill, universities, and in schools (elementary, middle and high schools, both public and private). These gatherings often bring together people of vastly disparate backgrounds and experiences and ages who nonetheless have a shared striving for impassioned yet thoughtful discourse. In this article, the author explores why he believes his approach to practicing philosophical inquiry merits the sobriquet 'Socratic,' and in doing so, relates the intellectual and processual underpinnings of his dialogical method. The overarching aim is to present a genealogy of one way of doing philosophical inquiry that can legitimately be called Socratic - a way that is open and accessible to people of all ages. This version of the Socratic method that is adumbrated is largely informed by Justus Buchler, though it is also influenced considerably by Walter Kaufmann (particularly the axiological and teleological strains), and Hannah Arendt (particularly the performative and doxological aspects). The author draws on supportive arguments from these preeminent Western intellectuals and humanist-scholars who themselves were irrevocably altered by the paradigmatic practices of the historical Socrates. At the same time, all had somewhat differing perceptions and interpretations of who this historical Socrates was, what his philosophical quest amounted to, and how he should be emulated in contemporary contexts. This informed their respective outlooks on contemporary usages of this eponymous method, and theirs in turned informed the author's.

Palabras clave : Socratic method; Philosophical inquiry; J. Buchler.

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