The demographics are clear. Irish people are living longer and better lives. We are not equal entering into this experience. In these late years we pay the price for past mistakes and negligence, placing greater demands on healthcare resources.

The challenge of ageing well means more than a balanced lifestyle, a good diet, exercise and sleep. It involves not only the body but also the soul. The psychological, spiritual and philosophical dimensions of old age as components of integrated healthcare are often ignored. There is an argument that philosophy is, in fact, one of the keys to a happy old age.

Every old person has no choice as to whether or not he/she is a philosopher. Every old person operates out of some philosophical world view, well-formed or incomplete or somewhere in between; unreflectively absorbed from the culture around them or built on critical questioning and sustained thought, or a mixture of both.

A Socrates Café is an innovative discussion forum which facilitates community philosophy, taking it out of universities and academia. Community philosophy provides a process which enables people to talk to and listen to each other. It brings the benefits of philosophy to informal settings and everyday life and seeks to develop mutual learning in a caring and collaborative context.

A Socrates Café provides an opportunity for intellectual challenge and learning within a day care setting. It is based on the Socratic method of questioning one’s ideas and values and the perceived benefits of open and free discussion. An eclectic range of philosophical perspectives are drawn on to promote reflection and discussion, Socrates on self-awareness, Plato on political politics, Aristotle on the habits and practices that promote human flourishing, Epictetus on acceptance and  Viktor Frankl on purpose and meaning.

Outcomes from the Café include the enhancement of individual well-being, the promotion of social integration among the participants, mental and emotional stimulation, affirmation and social recognition, developing virtues of tolerance and understanding, opportunity for reflection and new learning experiences, and integration in concentric circles of relationships linking with wider communities. Above all it has impacted on the scourge of loneliness experienced by the participants in an urban environment. In addition the social and communal nature of the learning involved in the Café helped to create the conditions for the participants’ own inclusion and added value to the work of Clareville day centre as an organisation.