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Socrate's Café starts at Umina

The inaugural meeting of the Woy Woy Peninsula Socrates Café will be held at the Jasmine Greens Café, Umina, on Thursday, May 24.

The meeting will be held from 5.30pm and participants have asked to contact organisers soon due to limited space.

"Socrates Café is about people getting together to dialogue philosophically about life and to question the world we live in and our own beliefs," facilitator Ms Barbara Hasslacher said.

"Christopher Phillips is the author of the book Socrates Cafe which he wrote a few years ago based on his experiences of setting up these dialogue groups in public meeting places in the late 1990s.

"You can check out his web site at www.philosopher.org

"The aim is to question life, our place in it, reflect upon and challenge our views/ thoughts/concepts in the spirit of respect and tolerance so that we can learn from each other and amend views as necessary so that we can feel enriched from our exchange and create a better/safer/happier community and world.

"In questioning intelligently how we live, we can create more vibrant democracies and participatory societies.

"For it has been said that if a people/society do not question its leaders, it risks being manipulated/dominated into doing/having laws which are unethical or inhumane, as history bears out.

"So reflecting and questioning, in the Socratic manner, may not merely form entertainment; rather a healthy and necessary thing to do on a regular basis in order to ensure a healthier community.

"The real question for us today is how to use philosophical enquiry to good use for our day and age to aid in resolving serious modern issues."

The Socrates Café is an informal discussion group where the topic discussed depends on the participants present.

The facilitator will ask for questions from the group and a topic would be chosen as a starting point.

At the start of the session, the facilitator reminds the group of a few basic ground rules, namely one speaker at a time, no personal attacks on individual participants, not to speak for too long, the facilitator will act as timekeeper and direct the group and the role of facilitation is to be shared with other willing participants.

"The session tends to go for about one and a half hours but can continue on if the enthusiasm is there," Ms Hasslacher said.

There are monthly Socrates Cafe groups currently operating at Erina and Tuggerah.

For more information, telephone Ms Hasslacher on 4367 4730 or email her at salamu@iprimus.com.au.

Press release, 8 May 2007 Barbara Hasslacher, Socrates Cafe