Democracy Café

Paul Martin, founder and CIO of Martin Capital Advisors (MartinCapital.com) -- for which I am an Investment Advisor Representative of the Socratic kind -- doesn't just create worlds; he creates universes. The accomplished managing partner (MCA regularly outperforms its competitors) is also a standout artist whose works are being shown from New York City to Mexico City (in November). My operating premise in this latest The Openist exchange with Paul -- my most frequent guest on our podcast (what can I say, he fascinates me) -- is that his ability to envision new worlds, if not universes, also drives in some way his singular investment artistry. Listen in. (My apologies, especially to Paul, around the 8 minute and 15 second mark, for misunderstanding what he said -- he was saying 'secret,' and I misunderstood it to be 'seeking -- but I was at a bustling cafe during the recording.)

Maria Cortes, all of 17 years old, is dedicated to creating bridges of opportunity for all those disadvantaged youth who may not even be aware that such bridges exist. As the founder of EDYouth, based in the Houston area, Maria is singlehandedly seeing to it that middle school students in her region -- and eventually throughout the U.S. and beyond -- have the kinds of opportunities that can help ensure that they can be all they can be as individuals and as citizens. I had the privilege of meeting Maria and a number of her peers at the latest Civic Collaboratory convened (this time at Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C.) by civic mover and shaker and acclaimed author Eric Liu, founder of Citizen University (CitizenUniversity.us). I was so wowed by Maria's life mission, as well as her eloquence, passion and maturity, that I invited her to be a guest on our podcast. So glad Maria accepted my invitation -- and you will be too, when you listen in and hear her incredibly compelling story of all she has over

If anyone was ever 'meant' for a certain professional position, it's Danielle Olson, freshly minted Executive Director of Portland, Oregon-based Hatch Innovation (website at HatchTheFuture.org). Hatch is all about helping people create enterprises that genuinely help improve communities, and there is just no one better suited for leading such an organization with such a lofty and vital mission than Danielle Olson. Danielle -- who is also a board member of our DemocracyCafe.org (we wouldn't have the wonderful web presence we do if not for her) is a big advocate of a kind of inclusive entrepreneurship that hinges on collective action by diverse stakeholders, especially in the realm of social enterprise where community problems are being addressed. "Certainly it's a challenge to have multiple people from different walks of life and perspectives come together and innovate as a community," she tells me in this exchange, but she believes it will lead to more innovative and lasting solutions, since it "gives m

Gary Lauder's abiding ethos is that "everyone needs to look out for the interests of everyone." "I want others to be treated the way I'd want to be treated," he tells me. I had the pleasure to know Gary, a venture capitalist and venture philanthropist, among many other things, thanks to introduction by mutual friend Larry Lessig -- and a subsequent invitation extended to me in 2013 to preside over a Teen Socrates Seminar on our Constitution and Declaration of Independence supported by Gary and his wife Laura at the Aspen Institute. Gary and I cover varied ground in this give and take -- from patent law, to a gap year program for students that Gary and Laura Lauder generously support, to the highly impactful entrepreneurial endeavor ShotSpotter, which uses sound waves to detect and map gunshots, and has become an especially vital tool in those communities most impacted by gun violence. In characterizing his philosophy of how one should live, Gary makes timely reference to this timeless insight from P

Our intrepid Democracy Cafe advisory board member Peter Schoonmaker, PhD, has spent the better part of the last year in Dubai. Peter, who earned his PhD in biology at Harvard University, is a prominent environmental scientist and founding chair of the MFA program in Collaborative Design and the MA in Design Systems. One of so many things I admire about Peter, and try in my way to emulate, is his great capacity to listen and observe. So it is that when he trekked to the Middle East, his main goal was not to instruct, though heaven knows he has so much to contribute the world over to environmental problems in need of solutions, but to learn -- and in a way that'll enable him, when he returns to the U.S., to bring with him novel ideas and approaches to solving our most intractable and vexing environmental woes. Listen in.

Muy agradecido con Gina Jaramillo, periodista inigualable de Radio Ibero (90.9 FM en Mexico DF) por entrevistarme sobre mis exploraciones filosoficas con ninos de todas partes del mundo y mi nuevo libro 'La filosofia de ser ninos', publicado por Penguin Random House (sello Grijalbo)

What better day than May Day to have on our podcast, The Openist, the inimitable Larry Lessig, professor of law and leadership at Harvard University, and our nonprofit Democracy Cafe's beloved advisory board member,. Larry remains deeply moved, indeed more so than ever, by the spirit and conviction of his protege, open data activist Aaron Swartz, whose life was tragically truncated in 2013, to do all he can in his own mortal moment to revive our democracy while there's still time. In his latest book, 'America, Compromised,' Lessig offers a nuanced yet sweeping diagnosis of what ails us as a nation when it comes to pervasive institutional corruption enabled by largely good but tipsy purveyors of a corrosive democracy-destroying system. But take heart: he also offers a number of doable prescriptions for combating and upending this endemic problem. Larry is a combination of rabble rouser in the spirit of our original Founding Fathers and Mothers, of Don Quijote tilting at windmills but determined to fight the

For about eight years now, Dublin, Ireland has had a thriving Socrates Cafe, thanks to co-founders Paul Hartigan and Roy Angle. Both of these inordinately thoughtful people are dedicated to creating the kind of place and space where genuinely transformative encounters can happen on a regular basis. Listen in as they share with me the joys and wonders of their Socrates Cafe, where participants can sate their "hunger for deeper understanding of yourself and the world." Here's the link to their Meetup Socrates Cafe page, which has nearly 2,500 members. https://www.meetup.com/socratescafedublin/

Mil gracias al programa exquisito Chayo Contigo de Radio FM 93.7 en Ciudad Mexico por este bonito anuncio sobre mi presentacion cultural el martes 22 de enero a la Cafebreria Pendulo en Colonia Roma.

Once upon a time, nearly a decade ago, a student of mine by the name of Chad Adams, in a course I developed and taught called "Deliberative Traditions and Democracy," wrote a brilliant paper on Socratic inquiry. I gained new insights from it, even though my doctoral dissertation had been on this very subject. Chad -- who has a tattoo on his arm, in Greek, that says 'the unexamined life is not worth living' -- wrote me some years later to tell me how meaningful my course had been. He told me that my class and what he learned had stayed with him, and he just wanted to thank me. And so, about six years after I got that wonderful message from Chad (who'd since forgotten he'd sent it! :). He is now living and working in the St. Petersburg/Tampa, FL area, where my late father was raised and where his life was tragically truncated in 2011. Chad is doing great things professionally -- not to mention that he has become quite an adept surfer. And so here we are, back in the saddle again, on our podcast The

Jeffrey Sachs is a leading crusader to make ours a globally sustainable planet, and as a consequence, eradicate the extreme poverty that exists in a world of abundance. The world-renowned economist, senior United Nations advisor, prolific bestselling author, shares with me in our latest edition of The Openist his fervent belief that what the world needs now, and in a big way, is the widespread practice of an Aristotelian virtue ethics based on what the Greeks of old called arete -- all-around excellence in which duty to self and to others goes hand in glove. As Dr. Sachs eloquently puts it, only when we come to see one another, regardless of our social and economic station, as equally human and equally deserving of living a richly meaningful life imbued with social conscience, can we become committed to realizing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals crafted by world leaders in 2015 at a special United Nations summit (see: http://jeffreysachs.center/sdg ). If you do listen in to this episode of The Open

Justin Stone is all about tearing down walls -- between one person and another, between man and nature, man and machine, between and among the knowledge disciplines. I had the pleasure of getting to know Justin, a one-of-a-kind professor of the Humanities at Valencia College, a premier place of learning in the U.S., when I was there last fall as keynote for their Humanities Speakers Series. Listen in as this recently minted proud papa of a joy-filled daughter who also somehow finds time to facilitate a regular Socrates Cafe at Valencia shares his singular philosophy of learning and living.

By his own reckoning, Paul Martin's nature has remained essentially unchanged since he was about 7 years old. Far from making him someone "like stone," as Jean-Paul Sartre characterized those who did not change in the passing years, it is what has led Paul to remain ever open and childlike in the best sense -- filled with a boundless curiosity, insatiable sense of wonder, and passion for inquiry. An accomplished artist, dedicated philanthropist, entrepreneur, philosophical thinker, beloved friend and mentor, not to mention Founder, Managing Partner and CIO of the quite successful Martin Capital Advisors (MartinCapital.com), a Registered Investment Advisor, it's safe to say that Paul is guided and driven by the ship of inquiry. In this latest confab with Paul, our fifth on this podcast, we tack from theme to theme -- from the philosophical to the financial to the sublimely creative -- all interrelated and highly illuminating, in my estimation. Listen in.

I consider Adam Garnick, my former student at Penn (now in law school there after rich work and study experiences these past years in far-flung places), well on the way to becoming a citizen of the world. Adam is in many respects rooted in Philly, but in ways that give him wings to hit the road and dig into the world. Now a fluent Spanish speaker, Adam likely this summer will be working at the U.S. - Mexico border, assisting those aspiring to immigrate to our country. I catch up with Adam while he is on the road, making his way to Vermont (the connection was a bit spotty at times but it was great to have this exchange with him while he was on the move). Listen in to his striking story.

How can you sculpt a life that's as healthy as it is sustainable? How do you meet the challenge of finding a meaningful balance in your relationship with nature and technology? Dr. Thomas Doherty (website SelfSustain.com), a licensed psychologist in Oregon, has some profound insights on these questions that are as timely as they are rather timeless. I've had the pleasure of crossing paths on several occasions these last years with Dr. Doherty, an award winning psychologist based in Portland, Oregon who is internationally recognized for his research on nature and mental health, as well as on the psychological impacts of global climate change. He and I both attend a fascinating annual get-together of scholars and practitioners called the Summit for a Globally Sustainable Self, which most recently was held in Banff, Canada (where my wife Ceci gave a presentation on her longtime labor of love helping indigenous communities in Mexico thrive in a sustainable way, and where I facilitated a philosophical inq

What makes for a life worth living? That's the rich question I explore in this latest Socratic tete-a-tete with Claire Diao, who became familiar with my writings while at University of Vermont, and with whom I have been in sporadic touch since she decided to leave her studies to work as a bartender in New York while figuring out her next step in her young life. Claire's aspiration at this stage is to matriculate at Brown University, which she believes is the ideal place for her to learn; and in my humble opinion, it is a no-brainer for them to accept her. If only the powers that be at Brown would listen in to this latest exchange of mine with Claire, hopefully they would become as convinced of this as I am. Hope you'll listen in, meanwhile.

The photo for this podcast features yours truly and dearest friend Dennis Dienst plotting out a business venture together over cups of tea. Dennis carefully records what we are hatching in a notebook, while I scribble my patented illegible notes on a napkin. Few people I've had the privilege to know have found the sweet spot, when it comes to planning, like Dennis Dienst, who among other things is a senior category manager at Smiths Medical in the Twin Cities, my client at Martin Capital Advisors (MartinCapital.com), and co-founder with me of SocratesGroup.org. Dennis somehow manages to plan ahead and at the same time to be a spontaneous child at heart; to be a risk taker but also to be careful and methodical, with both the short and long view in minds; to plan not only for his own well-being here and now and in times to come, but for that for others for whom he cares -- and not just in his own family circle, but casting a much wider net. Since the tragic 2011 death of my father, Alexander Phillips -- a

Dr. Richard Bernstein has not only been a generous supporter of our nonprofit Democracy Cafe, but is the organizer and facilitator of one of our longest-running Socrates Cafes, at the Ethical Culture Society in Teaneck, New Jersey. He related in a New York Times feature about Socrates Cafe in 2004 that he became ''hooked'' by the fact that ''it was a community of people that are passionate about ideas and people who really see that ideas make a difference.'' Dr. Bernstein, who studied philosophy at Yale, and had attended the original Socrates Cafe in Montclair, New Jersey, before starting one of his own, makes the compelling case that the kinds of philosophical exchanges our nonprofit promulgates, our flagship Socrates Cafe endeavor in particular, are arguably more needed than ever. Listen in. (I also invite you to read an exceptionally insightful essay about the bounties of Socrates Cafe written by Dr. Bernstein. You can access it via this blog post on our nonprofit website: https://www.socratescafe.

Anyone who has read any of my books (e.g. Six Questions of Socrates, Socrates Cafe, A Child at Heart, among others) knows that no one played more of a pivotal role in my decision to dramatically change my life in 1996 and establish Socrates Cafe philosophical inquiry gatherings the world over than the late philosopher and scholar Walter Kaufmann, longtime professor at Princeton. Kaufmann, who died at age 59, led an incredibly productive, meaningful and somewhat iconoclastic professional life. I am far from the only person whose own life has been forever altered by Kaufmann's works and deeds, imbued with a decided Socratic sensibility. Now, 37 years after Professor Kaufmann's untimely death in 1981, Dr. Stanley Corngold, Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at Princeton, has written a sweeping and majestic book -- 'Walter Kaufmann: Walter Kaufmann: Philosopher, Humanist, Heretic.' I had the honor to speak for nearly an hour with Dr. Corngold, a celebrated Kafka scholar, about his tour-d

If ever a book was crying out to be updated and re-issued, it's Stephen Duncombe's timely and timeless guide to creating a far more imaginative, inclusive and (dare I use the word) progressive politics in all its dazzling array of colorful manifestations. Steve talks with me about the new issue (also out in Spanish) of "Dream or Nightmare: Reimagining Politics in an Age of Fantasy." (Here's a link to where you can purchase it post haste: https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/dream-or-nightmare/ ) A longtime, revered professor (by students and colleagues, if it not by the more establishment-grounded deans) at New York University and co-founder of the Center for Artistic Activism, Steve has walked the walk like few others I know when it comes to putting his values into concrete deed. Listen in as Steve shares some of his experiences gallivanting the globe these last years working with activists to help them become more like artists -- and hence become more effective at achieving more desired outcomes -- and ar