 "Photo: Daniel Hernandez-Luna")
Beneath abstract murals of planets and mustard-colored walls covered with tribal masks, about 10 Chico State students and community members were ready to talk.
While some participants lounged on a couch sipping chai tea lattes, others pulled up chairs to join the circle.
Each participant wrote down a question that was on his or her mind and the facilitator used the questions as suggestions for a topic. The discussion topics change each week and range from the roots of racism to the meaning of love and the origin of religion.
Participants in the weekly discussion group Aristotle’s Cafe meet to share opinions and ideas at 6 p.m. Tuesdays at Cafe Culture, on the corner of Fifth and Cedar streets.
Though disagreement is common, the exchange remains calm because of the relaxed atmosphere. Trained facilitators from the Speech and Debate team guide the conversation. Aristotle’s Cafe aims to increase participants’ understanding of one another and of the world. Graduate student Hassan Ghiassi started a branch of Aristotle’s Cafe at Chico State to provide a forum for participants to talk about issues in person, which is rare in today’s technology-filled world, he said.
“On a community basis, our world as a whole doesn’t have face-to-face interactions,” Ghiassi said. “When people can hang up the phone, turn off the television or choose exactly what to see on the Internet, it doesn’t challenge their opinions or beliefs.”
Ghiassi’s involvement with Aristotle’s Cafe began in 2007 as an undergraduate student at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., where he worked with a professor to form the original branch of the group. When he traveled to Chico State to start his master’s in communication studies, Ghiassi decide to start an Aristotle’s Cafe discussion group in Chico, he said.
Students and community members come to discuss topics in a constructive way, said junior Giselle Conde, a Spanish and geology major.
She was initially hesitant to attend Aristotle’s Cafe because she was unfamiliar with philosophy. However, the open environment and ability to suggest topics made Conde feel welcome, she said.
“It’s not geared so you have to know what Descartes or Nietzsche thought,” Conde said. “It’s more about your personal philosophy and what anybody could think of.”
Aristotle’s Cafe gives participants a chance to discuss issues confronting them in everyday life, Ghiassi said. However, a facilitator is present to ensure the discussion goes smoothly.
“Facilitators aren’t supposed to say anything except ask questions,” Ghiassi said. “They can’t give bias. Facilitators can only guide the group as it wants to be guided in a direction that enlightens.”
Ghiassi trains Chico State students to be effective facilitators through his work as a teaching assistant in a communication studies class. Students in Ghiassi’s class may choose to facilitate the group and earn one to three units, depending on the degree of time committed to Aristotle’s Cafe, he said.
Facilitators strive to keep the conversation flowing without putting themselves in it, said Anthony Azevedo, a junior majoring in communication studies who is taking the three-unit version of the class. The presence of a facilitator keeps the conversation respectful, even in the face of disagreement.
“In Aristotle’s Cafe, it is less on pushing a view and more on presenting it,” Azevedo said. “It is not a setting where you try to convert people or push it in their face.”
Aristotle’s Cafe gives participants a chance to listen to and understand one another’s perspectives without getting confrontational, said Jo Johnson, a senior majoring in geology who is taking the one-unit version of the class.
Sitting in a circle helps make everyone equal in the conversation, Johnson said. Talking freely with one another allows participants to re-examine their beliefs.
“People have preconceived notions about everything,” Johnson said. “We all have them, but Aristotle’s Cafe challenges this.”
As membership increases, Ghiassi wants more participants with diverse opinions to continue to challenge the group, he said. Sharing their views helps participants strengthen their own beliefs and the logic behind them.
“I never learned more than when I started doing this each week,” Ghiassi said.
Hillary Feeney can be reached at
Hfeeney@theorion.com
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