Christopher R. Phillips (born circa 1960) is the creator of the Socrates Cafe discussion groups. Majoring in Government, he earned a B.A. from the College of William & Mary in 1981; Phillips himself has described this degree as "a bachelor's in political philosophy". In 1997, he earned an M.Ed. in Philosophy for Children from Montclair State University's Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. In 2000, he earned an M.A. external degree in Humanities at California State University, Dominguez Hills; Phillips himself has described this degree as "a master's in philosophy". He also has a Master of Science in natural sciences degree from Delta State University, which was the first of his master's degrees. Cu
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Christopher R. Phillips (born circa 1960) is the creator of the Socrates Cafe discussion groups. Majoring in Government, he earned a B.A. from the College of William & Mary in 1981; Phillips himself has described this degree as "a bachelor's in political philosophy". In 1997, he earned an M.Ed. in Philosophy for Children from Montclair State University's Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. In 2000, he earned an M.A. external degree in Humanities at California State University, Dominguez Hills; Phillips himself has described this degree as "a master's in philosophy". He also has a Master of Science in natural sciences degree from Delta State University, which was the first of his master's degrees. Currently, Phillips is a Ph.D. student in the School of Communications and Arts at Edith Cowan University, focusing his research on "communicating everyday philosophy across cultural contexts".
In 1992 Phillips read an article about Marc Sautet who started a philosophy discussion group at a cafe in Paris which everyone was welcomed to join; upon joinging the group himself, Phillips learned of Monclair's Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. In the summer of 1996, Phillips started his own philosophy discussion group where everyone was welcome; it met at Borders Books in Wayne, New Jersey. So began the phenomenon of the "Socrates Café".
In college, Phillips had an interest in philosophy, but did not major in it, because "his professors spoke in monotone voices, read from prepared texts, and took umbrage at questions." He has voiced similar criticism concerning academic philosophy in general: "I discovered that academic philosophers were just not like the ones I had read about as a teenager -- keen minds who weren't afraid to examine a question from a thousand different angles." This may help explain his self-appointed "quest" of bringing philosophy out the "stifling confines of academia" and "back 'to the people', wherever they happen to be." According to Phillips, "Philosophy has been hoarded too long by academics. I'm stealing it back for the masses."
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