For more than 20 years, Kristof Van Rossem has worked as an independent trainer in Socratic dialogue in various organizations from businesses to schools, non-profits, and prisons. He holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy and in Sciences of Religion and currently teaches Business Ethics at Odisee University College of Brussels and provides pedagogical training to the University of Leuven’s Philosophy Department. His most recent book, The Philosophical Conversation: The Basics, is a practical, how-to-guide for engaging in philosophical conversations and the Socratic method. In this Recently Published Book Spotlight, Van Rossem discusses what readers will gain from the text, music’s role in the book, and reviews from readers.
What is the book about?
The Philosophical Conversation: The Basics is a manual for anyone who wants to lead philosophical dialogues or participate in them. Throughout the book, the metaphor of a Romani orchestra is used. Having a philosophical conversation is indeed like making music: it requires mastery to do it correctly and with gusto. Moreover, philosophizing together teaches you to think more sharply, pay attention to the interests of others, and tell your own story with more conviction. It takes you into a free world full of new thoughts and feelings.
In the book, you will find the most important philosophical skills and how to get started with them. A philosophical score sets the rhythm, teaching you proper posture, technique, and performance. A variety of exercises help you think more precisely and communicate your thoughts to others. In this book, you will discover the pleasure of making music with words.
Why did you feel the need to write this book?
As a student of philosophy, I was intrigued by how I could use philosophy to improve people’s thinking in daily life and work. I became an independent trainer and have worked with all kinds of people, from detainees to top managers. As I didn’t find any decent book describing how you keep dialogues on an elevated philosophical level, I decided to write one myself. The book is now used in a lot of schools and institutions. It’s also the textbook for my annual course “The Didactics of Philosophical Conversation” at the Philosophy Institute of the University of Leuven.
What makes this book stand out is the mixture of profoundness and lightness (humor). I have found parallels between what I do with groups as a facilitator and what I do in my free time as a musician, and I have tried to share this in the text. I play several kinds of music on my accordion, including traditional Romani music, and have my own band. In making music the central metaphor throughout the book, I wanted to share this side of me. I have also begun each chapter with a QR code that brings you to Romani music.
How is this book relevant to the contemporary world?
- When you are a philosopher, this book will show how you can conduct a philosophical practice in a good way, be it with groups or with individuals. Most books in the field up until now tell you how important philosophical practice is and what it can bring you but they don’t show you how to do it well. This book does.
- When you work in an organization, this book is your guideline to uplift the quality of reflective conversations. You will find ten valuable tips to ask questions and learn how to listen with an ‘empty mind.’
- Lots of young people live in their ‘digital bubble’ interacting mainly online and with peers that think the same. The discursive practice of relating respectfully to people whose opinions you may disagree with has become increasingly rare in schools and other institutions. But using conversation as a locus for looking for truth together without conflict is the basis of our democracies. This book shows you how to ‘train’ these democratic skills again.
- It is a witty and musical book full of positive energy that will encourage you to either engage in meaningful dialogues with people around you or start playing music.
Which tips can readers take from the book?
1. Listen like a midwife
Your interlocutor constantly thinks and speaks differently from you. You can therefore never quite grasp him. The good thing is: you don’t have to try. Switch off your thinking when you listen and be available to the other rather than yourself. When your interlocutor speaks, you assist like a midwife in the birth of each of his/her thoughts. You don’t have to do anything for that. You don’t need a cesarean section. If you are patient, it will happen by itself.
About this, Plato has Socrates say:
“For I have this in common with the midwives: I am sterile in point of wisdom, and the reproach which has often been brought against me, that I question others but make no reply myself about anything, because I have no wisdom in me, is a true reproach; and the reason of it is this: the god compels me to act as midwife, but has never allowed me to bring forth. I am, then, not at all a wise person myself.”(Theaetetus, 150c)
2. Ask questions like a chameleon
When you ask a question, do so briefly, without introduction or digression. So not “What I would like to ask is…”, as this detracts from the power of your question. Also, ask open-ended questions. Rather than “Aren’t we all a bit short of time?”, simply ask “How much time do we have?” Finally, use your interlocutor’s words as much as possible in your question. Like a chameleon, take on the color of the tree. In this way, your partner does not have to think about your question but has all the space he needs to think about his own words.
3. Think like a gadfly
Don’t make it too easy on yourself and the other person. If you just express what you have been thinking for a long time, no reflection has yet happened. It only happens when your thinking becomes disturbed. In a philosophical conversation, you are to each other like a gadfly on a horse: you sting, you get on each other’s nerves, you challenge each other. All assumptions, presuppositions, and truths may be questioned: that the house needs to be cleaned, that you are busy, that being healthy is the most important thing in life. It is all not necessarily true and at best, probable.
About this, Plato has Socrates say:
I am that gadfly which the god has given the state and [31a] all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you.(Apology, 30 e – 31 a)
4. Play like a gypsy musician
Having a philosophical conversation is like playing music. To play well, you need the right posture and technique. It is a skill that you perform with precision and schwung. And just like a Romani musician, you can keep at it day and night. In conversation, you will discover the pleasure of making music with words.
5. Play like a child
You may say anything you like in a philosophical conversation but you must also be prepared to revise your views if they are wrong or inadequate. It is an exploration by trial and error. Along the way, you learn to express yourself more accurately, think more clearly, and argue better. And you also learn to enjoy that process. You let go of your pursuit of a ‘solution’ and you view the world anew, like through the eyes of a child.
What lessons have you learned from your years of teaching philosophical conversation?
I learned first of all that to make your students/participants think, you need to work with their spontaneous way of talking and reasoning. That means you have to listen to this very carefully to capture if you hear an assertion, a story, an argument, a sigh, etc. In this way, your question will be recognized first of all, and moreover, you will be more efficient in questioning. Leading a philosophical conversation is a craft, very much like playing music. It looks very simple: the only movements the facilitator is asking for are to take a position, to argue, to listen well, to concretize/to abstract, and to investigate other people’s views. Only five things. But to do it is at first very difficult. It requires full concentration and empathic listening.
A second thing I learned is: show, don’t tell. It’s easy to tell others how to lead a dialogue. But it’s way more interesting just to show it. Only there you can recognize the real craftsman.
How have readers responded up until now?
The Dutch version of the book has reached its fifth edition and won the Centre for Philosophy for Children (P4C)’s ‘Berrie Heesen’ prize in Holland for best contribution in the Dutch-speaking countries in the field of philosophical dialogues for children and youngsters. The jury called it ‘the most light and at the same time most theoretically profound book in the field’.
Some other reactions:
“It would be an understatement to describe this book as a fun read. Kristof has demonstrated how dialogue can be philosophical and practical at the same time, something unique to many Asian readers but should really be universal.” – Shiro Ando, International Peace Worker (Myanmar), Author, and Founder of Philosophy Squats
“Following Socrates, the third Earl of Shaftesbury introduced philosophic conversations to educate the new class of citizens that emerged during the English Enlightenment; fun, humor, and art were essential for effective dialogues then as they are now. In that delightful study of the basics of philosophic conversation and for the benefit of us all, both experienced and aspiring philosophers, Van Rossem masterfully teaches us how to successfully lead enjoyable, and therefore, efficacious, conversations on philosophic topics.” – Lydia Amir, Department of Philosophy, Tufts University, USA; Founding-Editor of Lexington Series in Philosophical Practice; President of the Israeli Association for Philosophical Practice, and Adjunct-Director of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association
“A highly recommended book, Kristof’s passion, dedication and valuable experience in his work can be seen without a doubt in this highly schematic, fresh, clear and example-filled book. I recommend it with pleasure.” – David Sumiacher D’Angelo, General Director of CECAPFI and President of CECAPFI International (Mexico City)
“Fun and joy-filled, Kristof uses wonderful analogies and metaphors to bring the art of facilitating philosophical conversations to life, and deftly uses conversations in the book to illustrate the science of questioning and thinking philosophically.” – Emma Swinn MBE, President of SOPHIA Network of P4C (Europe) and Co-CEO of The Philosophy Foundation (UK)
“The book offers something so rare as an enjoyable reading combined with profound lessons about how to perform philosophical dialogues professionally as well as in your everyday life. This will certainly be a book that I will use in training of teachers, nurses, social workers, leaders, to get proficient in guiding philosophical dialogues.” – Dr. Ann S. Pihlgren, Research Director at Ignite Research Institute, Sweden and Spain
“It is the book that every philosophical discussion leader (especially in the making) should have on his bedside table. And then reading, of course – you dream happily of it.” – Peter Schmitz, Socratic moderator and philosophical practitioner, the Netherlands
“A good philosophical conversation is not so easy to conduct. A good, competent, effective discussion leader (philosophy teacher) is indispensable. Grips are essential and good exercises are definitely necessary. Thanks to Kristof van Rossem’s new book, there is now a wealth of tools and good exercises. Definitely recommended for philosophy teachers and their trainers.” – Dr. Natascha Kienstra, assistant professor of practical philosophy and didactics School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg University, the Netherlands
“Do you really want to learn how to conduct or guide a philosophical conversation? Then this book is a must-read. In contrast to the somewhat popular reading about Socratic conversations, this book does take the reader seriously. It is well written, nuanced and easy to understand for beginners and experts alike. Kristof Van Rossem shows that he is one of the absolute experts in the field of philosophical conversation.” – Barry Mahoney, PhD student + teacher trainer citizenship education
“Reflection begins where the expression of personal opinion is disrupted. After all, anyone who only repeats in a conversation what they have thought of something for a long time does not think.” One of the many wise lessons from Kristof van Rossem’s new book in which he clearly explains the usefulness of philosophizing. And meanwhile, we read fascinated about the inspirations and creativity of the Romanian Orchestra Lautarii. For anyone who wants to (learn to) ask compelling questions, who does not hesitate to ‘question evidence’ and who, in short, wants to learn to have better conversations ……. read ‘The Philosophical Conversation’!” – Jos Mevis, manager Queresta, the Netherlands
Kristof Van Rossem
Kristof Van Rossem (°1969) holds a Master degree in Philosophy and in Sciences of Religion. For more than 20 years, he has been an independent trainer working with dialogue and reflection in various organisations. His specialities are the “art of questioning” and variations of “Socratic dialogue”. Kristof is teaching Business Ethics at Odisee University College of Brussels and he is a teacher trainer in the department of philosophy of the University of Leuven (KUL).
Maryellen Stohlman-Vanderveen is the APA Blog's Diversity and Inclusion Editor and Research Editor. She graduated from the London School of Economics with an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy in 2023 and currently works in strategic communications. Her philosophical interests include conceptual engineering, normative ethics, philosophy of technology, and how to live a good life.
