Civic Quest

What if civic affairs were open, argumentative, and friendly?

At Civic Quest they are.

Civic Quest is a public read aloud + round table of Plato’s dialogues and Aristotle’s treatises and it has an unprecedented goal: to read all of Plato’s Socratic dialogues and Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics out loud, in public, for free. We began in January 2022, we meet on the first Wednesday of every month at Odyssey Coffee, and we begin at 7pm sharp. Should you decide to join us, please arrive before 7pm because we really do start the session at 7pm sharp.

There are no prerequisites for attending, save a curious mind. Our format: I welcome the group with a very short introduction to the day’s reading, we read out loud for roughly 30 minutes, we discuss until 8:30pm, we go home.

While I do hold a PhD in Classics and teach at Monmouth University, Civic Quest is not really a class; nor is it a book club. It is a vigorous refuge for civic thinkers, a public forum for sapiens, a room full of philosophers seeking the truth about human nature, the common good, and what a free and virtuous society looks like today. At Civic Quest we believe that civic affairs ought to be open, argumentative, and friendly.

Like Odyssey Coffee, Civic Quest is politically neutral but philosophically vigorous. In broad outlines, the plan is to read Plato’s Socratic dialogues in the order of their internal dramatic dates (on which see Plato’s Philosophers by Catherine Zuckert), then to read Aristotle’s Ethics, and finally Aristotle’s Politics.

Scroll down below our gallery for a reading plan, handouts, and more.

Reading Plan

• Jan, Feb 2022: Alcibiades I by Plato

• Mar 2022: Charmides by Plato

• Apr 2022: Laches by Plato

• May 2022: Greater Hippias by Plato

• June 2022: Lesser Hippias by Plato

• July—Dec 2022: Symposium by Plato

• Jan—Feb 2023: Symposium by Plato

• Mar—Aug 2023: Phaedrus by Plato

• Sep—Dec 2023: sabbatical as Joey switched careers

• Jan 2024: Politics by Aristotle

  • Handout

• Feb 2024: Ion by Plato

  • Handout

• Mar 2024: Republic by Plato

  • Book 1: Getting to Cephalus’s, Socrates & Cephalus

  • Handout

• Apr 2024: Republic by Plato

  • Book 1: Socrates & Cephalus, Socrates & Polemarchus

• May 2024: Republic by Plato

  • Book 1: Socrates & Polemarchus

• June 2024: Republic by Plato

  • Book 1: Socrates & Thrasymachus (336B—347A)

  • Handout

• July 2024: Declaration of Independence

  • No in-person meeting.

  • Special Handout

• Aug 2024: Republic by Plato

  • Book 1: Socrates, Thrasymachus, & Glaucon (343B—348C)

  • Handout

• Sep 2024: Republic by Plato

  • Book 1: Socrates, Glaucon, & Thrasymachus (347A—354C)

  • We finished Book 1.

  • Handout

• Oct 2024: Special U.S. Presidential Election Edition

  • Declaration of Independence

  • U.S. Constitution: Article II

  • Federalist Papers: Nos. 69, 70

  • Handout

• Nov 2024: Republic II.357A—362D

  • Handout

Coming Up

• Euthydemus

• Lysis

• Gorgias

• Meno

• Euthyphro

• Apology

• Crito

• Phaedo

• Ethics by Aristotle

• Politics by Aristotle

What texts to buy?

We keep 10-ish copies of the texts for public use in Odyssey. But if you want to buy your own, the best one-stop shop for Plato is Plato: Complete Works, edited by John Cooper. That’s what we read aloud at Civic Quest. Worth every penny. For Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics, get the translations by Joe Sachs. He’s the best translator of Greek philosophical literature, and it’s what we use at Civic Quest.

Press Release: December 2021

Plato’s 2,500-year-old dialogues will come to life in a free, complete reading on the Jersey Shore

On Wednesday, January 5, 2022, a free, public reading of Plato’s complete Socratic dialogues will begin at Odyssey Coffee in Ocean Grove, NJ. Read by Joey Lipp, an award-winning classics professor, the readings will continue to take place on the first Wednesday of every month and will remain free to attend.

Professor Lipp says, “I’m calling the project Civic Quest, and it will span several years. Not for the faint at heart, it’s truly a quest. But I am passionate about the value of this ancient material for modern citizens, and I will continue to read as long as audiences continue to show up.” He continued: “Plato’s philosophical dialogues are a toolbox for civic thinking. They don’t tell you how to vote or how to form public policies, but they do give the careful reader something better: they raise the perennial civic questions, and model frameworks for answering them. Plus, Plato’s just fun to read.”

Plato, the father of western philosophy and citizen of the world’s first democracy, was related to members of the so-called Thirty Tyrants, who took control of Athens in 404BC and abused their authority by putting to death 1,500 citizens without trial. Plato quickly drew back from what he referred to as “that reign of injustice.”

Civic Quest will begin at 7pm and last 90 minutes. The group will read approximately 30 pages of text each time, followed by discussion moderated by Professor Lipp.

Odyssey Coffee’s address is 50 Main Ave, Suite 2, Ocean Grove, NJ 07756.

At Civic Quest we believe that civic affairs ought to be open, argumentative, friendly.

Questions? Email Joey.

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

— Benjamin Franklin