Start a Socratic Discussion Group

We are here today to prepare each other for the rigors of the public square. We are not here to win arguments or compel agreement. Rather, meeting in anonymity, we strive to arrive at consensus through discussion and research.

That is read aloud at the start of every meeting. A Socratic discussion group is a dozen people, a private room and a standing date once a month. At the meeting the moderator reads the provocation aloud, each member answers it in turn, and then the floor opens — free-flowing, aimed at seeking the truth, not winning the argument.

The goal is to think critically about issues and understand them and all their nuances and complexities well enough to lead conversations about them rather than merely participating in them.

The tradition is older than it sounds. Socrates espoused no particular philosophy; he recognized his own ignorance and believed that acknowledging it was the beginning of wisdom. Qui se ipsum moveat primum moveat — let him who would move the world first move himself.

Contact us and we will help you get one started.