Cafe Socrates is a weekly undergraduate philosophy discussion group. We meet every Wednesday from 4 to 6 PM, though people are not expected to stay for the whole two hours and often drop in for just a part. One or two faculty are usually present to get discussion started and moderate the conversation, but students pick the topics, and it is supposed to be their conversation. We also sometimes offer debates, formal presentations, and movie nights. Many involved students are philosophy majors or minors, but engineers, business majors, and artists attend as frequently as philosophy majors do.
Some Past Café Socrates Topics
Heroism
Are we responsible for our emotions?
Obscenity and Censorship
Suicide
Is capitalism immoral?
Moral relativism
What’s the Good Life?
God and Value
Abortion
Euthanasia
Vegetarianism
Is war ever morally justified?
Evil
Environmental Ethics
Do the dead have rights?
Dreams and Reality
Self-Knowledge
Can Computers Think?
Is there such a thing as fate?
What is Truth?
Arguments for God’s existence
The Nature of Love
Human nature in Chinese Philosophy
What is Beauty?
Sex and Power
Death
Religious Pluralism
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
Was Socrates guilty?