Thinking Class

Esmé Partridge is an MPhil student at the University of Cambridge and writer for publications including UnHerd, The Critic, and First Things. Esmé previously worked for a consultancy at the intersection of religion and politics where she was involved in several projects relating to religious freedom and interfaith relations.

Today we talk about the shift in contemporary religion and spirituality with traditional religions versus a menu of options, the importance of elites and their attitudes, King Charles III's philosophical worldview and why it could matter for social cohesion in an ethnically diverse and multi-faith United Kingdom, tradition, order, and freedom, and the impact of AI on creativity, competence and memory.

This is a deeply accessible philosophical conversation and while many of us in the modern West don't generally place much importance on monarchy or religion's influence on the public square, Esmé shows why both are much more important than we think.

Show notes
- Charles will be our Perennialist King - UnHerd
- Forgetting the Art of Memory | Esmé Partridge | First Things
- Pope Francis offers the most powerful critique of AI yet - The Post (unherd.com)
- Esmé L K Partridge (esmelkpartridge.com)

Dr. Frank Furedi is an author, social commentator and emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent. Author of more than 26 books, Furedi’s studies have been devoted to an exploration of the cultural developments in western societies. In recent years he has published several studies on the impact of the Culture Wars on family life, socialisation, education and public life. His most recent book, 100 Years of Identity Crisis, argues that it disrupts the socialisation of young people and encourages the estrangement of generations from one another.

In this episode Frank and I talk about populism as a reaction to liberal elites and their policies; the nature of culture wars; the longstanding conflict in values between the European Union and the central European Visegrad countries and how this is spreading to Western European countries; the role of democracy in challenging the status quo; and the need to continue creating spaces for honest conversation.

Show notes
- Populism and the European Culture Wars: The Conflict of Values between Hungary and the EU: Amazon.co.uk: Furedi, Frank: 9781138097438: Books
- You can follow Frank's work at his Substack: Roots & Wings with Frank Furedi | Substack

Dr. Tom Morris is a native of North Carolina in the United States, a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar, and was the recipient of a double PhD from Yale University. He has gone from being the most popular professor at The University of Notre Dame, where he taught for 15 years, to now serving as one of the world's most active public philosophers, authoring over 32 books, including national business bestsellers, while bringing the wisdom of the ages to many of the biggest and most successful companies in the world in over 1,200 public talks.  More recent books include The Everyday Patriot, The Art of Achievement, and Stoicism for Dummies. His work has been covered by television networks like ABC, NBC, and CNN, and in most major newspapers and magazines around the world, including the New York Times and the Economist. Tom has also been described as the world’s happiest philosopher and I'd agree.

We talk about the impact of philosophy on a life, the importance of rediscovering practical philosophy, conversations with the dead, the relevance of tradition, the need for hope and the moral obligation of elites toward those they govern. 

Enjoy the show classmates. 

Iancu Daramus is the Head of Sustainability for Fulcrum Asset Management and has been working in the field of Sustainable Finance for a decade. Through shareholder engagements, Iancu has helped shaped the strategies of the world's largest companies. Iancu writes and publishes regularly on investment portfolio alignment, energy and investment stewardship, including as one of the lead authors in the CFA Institute's Certificate of ESG Investing. Described as a committed sustainability advocate with strong credentials by Investment Week, Iancu won the rising star award at the 2022 Sustainable Investment Awards and was selected on Brummel Magazine's Ones To Watch for 30 under 40 in the city.

In this episode we talk about whether financial services firms can really take environmentalism into account, what works and what doesn't in sustainability strategies, whether Net Zero is the politics of narcissism, what is valuable but can't be measured, and much more.

Enjoy the show, class mates.

Show notes
The Matter With Things - Iain McGilchrist
Net Zero and the politics of Narcissm - John Gray in UnHerd

Andreas Svanlund is a board member of XBED, a Norwegian deep sea mining company that provides offshore companies with geo data to help them design, build, and operate offshore assets. Formerly an officer in the Norwegian Armed Forces, Andreas joined the defence industry as business developer with a special focus towards the special forces elements within NATO and Europol. Andreas was a proprietor of combat uniform equipment to the Norwegian Armed Forces and worked closely with the  National Response, counter-terrorism and organised crime units.

In this episode, we talk about the civilisational risk of the energy transition, how Andreas's career in the military shaped his worldview, political philosopher John Gray's view on the energy transition, European politicians' blindspots on renewable energy policy and the future of international relations, and much more.

Show notes
You can follow Andreas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreas-svanlund-74108747/

Matthew Davis is the Business School Director of Culture and Values at the University of Leeds, England, and is a psychologist, researcher, educator, and consultant. Matt works with public and private sector organisations to develop strategies to support hybrid working, workplace design, and sustainability.  Matt has worked with partners including Rolls Royce, Marks & Spencer,  Arup Consulting, Leeds City Council and British Gas. Matt has been featured by the BBC, the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and The Telegraph.

In this episode we talk about epistemic humility, what it is and why business schools need to learn it; the downstream impacts of business school thinking, the need for exposure to the messiness of the real world, the future challenges business leaders will face to their social licence to operate, and much more. 

Bridget Ryder is a freelance writer based in Spain. She writes on a wide variety of topics from  European Union  and Spanish politics to environmental issues and religion. Her work has appeared in The European Conservative and America Magazine. An American, she grew up in the American heartland and has spent stints traveling and working in Latin America and Europe. She cut her teeth on journalism as a small town beat and general assignment reporter near Yellowstone National Park. As an American with two liberal arts degrees (one in Spanish and one in Catholic Studies) she has held a variety of jobs over the years besides writing. Five years ago, she moved with her husband to his ancestral home in northwest Spain. She is also the delighted mother of her baby daughter.

In this episode, we talk about the European Union's regulatory and legislative agenda on sustainability; the Dutch farmers protests; the negative environmental impacts of renewable energy projects; and learning to live within limits.

Show notes
| The European Conservative
About Me – Bridget Ryder (bridgetwriter.com)

Ryan Hopkins is Chief Impact Officer at JAAQ,  author of '52 weeks of wellbeing: a no nonsense guide to a fulfilling work life' - published 03/01/24. Before joining Jaaq, Ryan led the Future of Wellbeing at Deloitte. He's a LinkedIn Top Voice for Work Life Balance, host of the Audacious Goals Club and Creator of Toilet Break Wellbeing. Ryan is also a TEDx Speaker - Shoreditch.

Expect to hear about the impact of discovering philosophy in our lives, why business leaders need to read philosophy, the common reasons cited for a lack of wellbeing at work,  the wellbeing crisis as a spiritual crisis and so much more.

Enjoy the show, classmates. 

Show notes
Instagram/TikTok- @futureofwellbeing

LinkedIn - Ryan Hopkins | LinkedIn

Want is the Acid - by Paul Kingsnorth (substack.com)

Enchiridion: Amazon.co.uk: Epictetus, Long, George: 9781548647797: Books

Hello everybody

Joining me in Thinking Class today is Katrin Gülden Le Maire. Katrin is a trained theologian, a strategic advisor, and an independent scientific researcher with more than 20 years experience in various European markets. She works across all industries and sectors, with special expertise in finance. She has been nominated as board member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on ESG in Westminster in 2022 and is a member of the board of the FIIT Institut at the Ruprecht Karls-Universität Heidelberg in Germany.  Katrin conducts scientific research, focusing on Cyber Ethics, democracy development and social cohesion as well as epistemology.

I loved this conversation and had so much more to say but time was against us. During our discussion, Katrin makes the argument that the western world is desecularising. We talk about why we should have a basic grasp of theology, why those of us in the West still live in a world dominated by Christian values, the similarities between the British, the French, and the Germans, and why business leaders are suffering from a crisis of understanding.

Shownotes
- kglemaire.com
- The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution: Amazon.co.uk: Trueman, Carl R., Dreher, Rod: 9781433556333: Books
- WOF 386: Christianity, History, and the Modern Age w/ Tom Holland - Word on Fire

Kahlil Corazo is the author of How to Turn Ideas Into Reality: Project Management for Entrepreneurship and Creative Work and the founder of Advenient.co, a Philippine-based outsourced partner of digital agencies handling the technical side of internet marketing. His current writing project is Explorations.ph, where he explores the applications of the ideas of thinkers such as René Girard and Venkatesh Rao to Philippine history and culture. Kahlil's Linkedin bio says that he is a "gentleman scholar." In the podcast, he explains what this means.

Today we talk about the influence of Rene Girard, the three-city problem, the problem of meaningless work, conversion, thick desires vs. thin desires, and designing ecologies of attention to desire good things.

Kahlil is a true gentleman and this was a conversation that will stay with me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

You can follow Kahlil's work on:
- Substack: https://lnkd.in/ePY3ZvRj
- X: https://lnkd.in/esdysWnZ

Show notes
The World Beyond Your Head: How to Flourish in an Age of Distraction: Amazon.co.uk: Crawford, Matthew: 9780241959442: Books
Things Hidden Since the Foundation of... by René Girard (amazon.co.uk)
The Three-City Problem of Meaningless Work | by Luke Burgis | Medium - Kahlil's guest post