Christopher Phillips

Constitution Cafe: Jefferson's Brew for a True Revolutoin
A central feature of modern political life in the United States is public veneration of the Constitution. The Constitution forms the basis of our understanding of the rights of citizens, it is the last argument of politicians across the political spectrum, and it has the moral gravity of secular scripture. This modern reverence makes Thomas Jefferson's opinion of the Constitution all the more shocking: Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, believed that Americans should get together every twenty years and rewrite the Constitution to meet their current needs. Essentially, every generation of Americans would rip up the Constitution and start again. In CONSTITUTION CAFÉ: Jefferson's Brew for a True Revolution, bestselling author and scholar Christopher Phillips puts Jefferson's radical idea to the test and asks Americans from all walks of life to create a new Constitution.

For over fifteen years, Christopher Phillips has been facilitating national philosophy discussion groups as part of his Socrates Café project. In these meetings, Americans from Main Street to Wall Street, from across racial and economic barriers, gather together to explore timeless existential problems through reasoned and thoughtful discussions. During one of these meetings, the discussion turned to President Obama's memoir, The Audacity of Hope, and Obama's statement that it's "hard to shake the feeling these days that our democracy has gone seriously awry." Reminded of Jefferson's scheme for keeping America's political life fresh and vibrant, Phillips decided to launch a thought experiment on a national scale. Phillips traveled from Colonial Williamsburg to the Mall of America, from the Burning Man arts and culture festival to Boy Scout troop meetings, and asked everyday Americans to reinvent the Constitution.

From gun control to the Constitutional protection of corporate rights, from the limits of free speech to immigration policies, Phillips’ lively, friendly, and informal conversation pieces show everyday American tackling the most important political problems of our time and coming up with solutions from the absurd to the profound. Throughout these engagements with the new framers, Phillips weaves short vignettes about Thomas Jefferson's role in the early republic, emphasizing the often ignored radicalism of the basic tenants of democracy and giving readers an image of the Founding Fathers as inspired, but sometimes flawed, human beings.

An image of a political culture free from the profitable rancor and echo chamber talking points that dominate modern media, CONSTITUTION CAFÉ is a needed corrective to the unfortunate popular image of Americans as an apathetic, narrowly partisan people. Phillips offers a hopeful portrait of a people who, working together, move beyond party lines to understand the challenges modern America faces. The Constitution Café project proves that the political creativity that defined Jefferson's infant democracy is still alive and well in America.

Socrates Café: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy
(W.W. Norton, 2001)
In the bestseller, Socrates Café, Phillips describes his extensive travels across the U.S. starting philosophical discussion groups and recalls what led him to start his itinerant program to begin with. Recounting some of the most invigorating sessions, he reveals sometimes surprising, often profound reflections on the meaning of love, friendship, work, growing old, and others among Life's Big Questions.

Six Questions of Socrates:
A Modern-Day Journey of Discovery through World Philosophy
(W.W. Norton, 2004)
Following in Socrates's footsteps, Phillips investigates timeless questions, beginning in the marketplace of modern-day Athens. He goes on to investigate the timely responses and outlooks of people from different cultures and backgrounds around the world, creating an innovative world survey of philosophy.

In Six Questions of Socrates, Christopher Phillips poses Socrates's "original" questions--as recorded by Plato--in the most diverse cultural circumstances. This unconventional method of discussion brings out surprising commonalities--he begins with "What is virtue?" in the remains of an ancient marketplace in Athens and moves on to a Navajo reservation in the Southwest, where it turns out that the Navajo conception of virtue, hozho, includes a sense of order and harmony with the natural world both similar to and distinct from the conception of the ancient Greeks. In Detroit, Phillips discusses "What is moderation?" with a group of twenty Muslim women, some veiled, some not, who explain to him the Koranic notion of a "just mean" or "balance between extremes."

Along Phillips's journey, one learns both about Western philosophers from the ancient Greeks to Nietzsche and about the philosophical traditions of Native American tribes, Asian cultures, and the Islamic world. Phillips shows how "big questions" are inseparable from timely political issues, as when in Mexico his companions consider the question of "What is justice?" and discuss the endemic corruption of the Mexican police force and political system; just as the question of "What is piety?" has particularly intense meaning for a group of Catholics reeling from the priest sex-abuse scandals.

In his successful follow up, Phillips continues this work, venturing to foreign lands and engaging in spirited and provocative discussions with people from many backgrounds: Japanese fifth-graders, Somalian refugees, a Mexican museum worker, an Israeli university student, Korean Buddists... The responses uncover surprising commonalities between cultures and reveal the deep connections between classical philosophy, modern life and the rich traditions and experiences of people far removed from the “canon” of Western academic philosophy.

Socrates in Love: Philosophy for a Die-Hard Romantic
(upcoming Feb 2007, W.W. Norton)
Taking as his springboard for modern Socratic inquiry the five traditional forms of love as practiced by the Greeks of antiquity--eros (erotic love), storge (family love), philia (friendship love), xenia (stranger love), and agape (unconditional love)--Phillips sets out to explore, in a wide variety of venues around the world, with people of all walks of life, how we can become a more loving world today, and how we can and even must learn about the wise, loving ways of the Greeks of old--particularly those of Socrates, who embodied all aspects of Greek love at a time when his own beloved society was in deep decline, seeking to resuscitate those loving practices that might once again set his society on an evolving course.

Ceci Ann's Day of Why
(Tricycle Press, October 2006)
Christopher Philips--known for promoting the art of Socratic inquiry to adults and older children around the world--now turns his attention to the very young. Ceci Ann approaches her day with an open and questioning mind. Why? Why not! This winsome model for thoughtful conversations will encourage young readers toward critical thinking in the years ahead.