Perkasie Socrates Cafe

What is it?
• Fun.
• Free and open to the public event for adults that gets you to think.
• Based on the book Socrates Café by Christopher Phillips.

How does it work?
• Participants choose a question of the day to consider in a democratic format.
• Say what you think and hear others’ points of view.
• Everyone may share a thought or contribute their ideas.

What skill set should you have to attend?
• Be yourself.
• Willingness to listen and participate at your leisure.

What’s in it for you?
Form your own conclusions to questions like:
• Is critical thinking put on the back burner because of information technology?
• What is courage?
• Are secrets always ultimately destructive?
• Is some censorship necessary?
• What is a successful life? Who gets to decide?

Who are we?
We are a group of thinkers. We learn in different ways; some of us are visual learners, some learn by doing, others take in what we hear to navigate the world, and/or a combination of these. But what do we have in common?
We are all here to open our minds to possibilities, to gain new perspective on topics of rules, ethics, and societal norms. Moreover, we are here to question who gets to decide these or whether we indeed have choices.
By listening to each other and expressing our personal opinion on the topic of the day, we have set the standard of kindness, respect and critical thought about what are often initially perceived as questions with both simple and obvious answers. We encourage openness and honesty in evaluating what we believe through our personal lens of our age and experience so that all of us have the opportunity to grow.
Where are we from?
On the whole we come from different backgrounds. We are students, teachers, scientists, artists, engineers, philosophers, writers, business owners, first responders, retirees, and those just embarking on a career. We are popular in public life and ordinary people who generally go unnoticed.
We are (in no particular order): atheist, agnostics, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, spiritualists, and more. We are Republican, Democrats, independent, and apolitical Americans.
Some of us have been surrounded by wealth and the comfort that can bring, others were brought up in abject poverty and struggle. Among us are dropouts, trade school graduates and highly educated people with multiple degrees. But we have all experienced health and sickness, pain and happiness. Some of us have obvious battle scars, while others’ trauma is invisible.
We come to the Socrates Café to become energized, to learn from others and to catalyze that in which we believe.