WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:13.560 Funnily that that princesses I loved. Why do you and 2 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:14.119 any of. 3 00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:26.839 This is? Oh right, everybody, Welcome to the Rue Book Show, 4 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:33.920 specially edition. We're doing this from beautiful Clemson University campus. 5 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:38.439 I'm here with uh doctor Bradley Thompson brad As Uh, 6 00:00:38.439 --> 00:00:43.000 I will call him uh. And I haven't been here god, 7 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:45.039 and I guess since before COVID. 8 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:47.399 Yeah, that's probably five years at least. 9 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:50.679 Yeah, so campus is completely different. I don't recognize it. 10 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.679 There are new buildings everywhere. Were sitting in the new 11 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:57.479 Business School, which is uh completely I mean you and 12 00:00:57.479 --> 00:01:00.439 and I I'd never seen it. Uh. I have to 13 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:04.920 say that the Institute for Capitalism, which is a house here, 14 00:01:05.159 --> 00:01:07.319 has got this beautiful I mean, I remember when it 15 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:11.680 was like a dinky little office in a big business school, 16 00:01:11.719 --> 00:01:15.599 economics department, whatever. And now it's got this whole beautiful 17 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:19.760 set of officers, suite of offices, a bunch of staff. 18 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:24.159 It really really is cool to see how much progress 19 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:26.799 has been made just in the last few years since 20 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:27.959 I was here last Yeah. 21 00:01:28.040 --> 00:01:32.319 No, absolutely, We've had serious growth in the last few years, 22 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:38.879 and Clemson continues to prove to be remarkably welcoming in 23 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:43.159 supportive place when few other universities in America would have 24 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:47.879 something like what we do, an Institute for the Study 25 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:52.519 of Capitalism. And also, let me just say welcome back. 26 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:54.200 Oh right, Yeah, it's going to be great to have 27 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:57.760 you back in Clemson and where the handshake is a 28 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:03.959 little stronger. Yeah. 29 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.239 So tell us a little bit about the growth. I mean, 30 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:12.000 you recently got a twenty five million dollar commitment over 31 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:16.319 you know, several years to grow the Capitalism Institute. But 32 00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:17.960 tell us what kind of what it used to do, 33 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.080 what it's doing now, what this money is going to 34 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:22.759 be used for the future. 35 00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:27.080 Yeah. So the Clemson now the Snow Institute for the 36 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:30.520 Study of Capitalism was founded in two thousand and five 37 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:35.879 with a startup grant from BB and T and John Allison. 38 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:38.680 And in the early years we were very small. I mean, 39 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:40.840 in the first year I was the Clemson Institute and 40 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:43.080 wherever I was standing on campus, that's where the Clemson 41 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:47.560 Institute was. And then I'm sure many of your audience 42 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:50.759 members know or have heard of Eric Daniels. Eric was 43 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:53.039 my first hire. And then over the course of the 44 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:56.080 next five or six years, we grew very very slowly. 45 00:02:56.479 --> 00:03:01.639 You know, hired an administrator in the early years and 46 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:06.840 then started slowly hiring faculty through postdocs that we had. 47 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.919 And so in those early years we did what most 48 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.560 similar kinds of institutes do. We had a lecture series, 49 00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:16.560 probably the best lecture series on campus. We ran summer 50 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:23.080 conferences that we sponsored co sponsored with AARI, a conference 51 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:26.759 for undergraduates from around the world on Atlas Shrugged and 52 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:31.719 the moral foundations of capitalism. But then in twenty fourteen, 53 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:36.520 we launched our premiere academic program, the Lyceum Scholars Program, 54 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:40.000 and we can talk about that, I'm sure we will 55 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:41.759 a little bit later in the conversation. 56 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.960 And that was that changed. 57 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:50.400 Everything for us, and we have really grown significantly since then. 58 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:55.039 But this twenty five million dollar gift that we receive 59 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:57.360 from David and Lennette Snow. 60 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:00.199 Obviously has changed everything. 61 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:04.919 And what it has done most importantly is that twenty 62 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:08.120 million of the twenty five will go into an endowment, 63 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:12.159 which means now that the Clemson now the Snow Institute 64 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:18.160 is forever. And that's a great thing as long as 65 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:20.720 we can stay true or a mission right. And of course, 66 00:04:20.759 --> 00:04:26.519 the story of most institutes universities right is slow corruption 67 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:33.600 over time, and my primary goal in running the institute 68 00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:37.240 is to preserve the mission and the integrity of the 69 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:40.040 institute for as long as I'm here and for many 70 00:04:40.519 --> 00:04:46.399 decades after you know, I eventually leave. So and then 71 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:50.959 with the remaining five million dollars, we will use that 72 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:53.000 money to expand our programs. 73 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:55.079 You know, one of the funny. 74 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:57.040 Things about getting this kind of gift is, you know, 75 00:04:57.079 --> 00:04:59.399 I receive phone calls and emails. 76 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:00.000 And your money. 77 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:03.759 Everybody want Everybody wants my money. And secondly, they don't 78 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:05.800 think I need any more money, right, I think with 79 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:07.360 twenty five million dollars. 80 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:08.279 As they put it, your set. 81 00:05:08.360 --> 00:05:10.959 Well, the fact of the matter is the five million 82 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:13.959 that we actually get to spend above and beyond the 83 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:18.000 endowment is really just for an expansion of of our 84 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:23.439 current program So so in many ways, it doesn't change anything 85 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:25.759 in terms of the fundraising that I have to do 86 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:29.879 for the institute. We still have to pay salaries, we 87 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:32.120 still have to run our programs and all of that. 88 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:35.319 NASMIA is still ambitious and want to even go bigger. 89 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:36.920 Well that's the plan. 90 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:40.040 So you know, our plan is the double and triple 91 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:44.639 in the next five or six years, all of everything 92 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:47.360 that we're doing, particularly the Lyceum. 93 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:49.680 So if we set aside the LYCM program for a minute, 94 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:52.639 what is the What is the institute? Is the SNOW 95 00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:53.680 Institute actually do. 96 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.800 So Our mission, in a phrase, is to explore the 97 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:01.160 moral foundations of capitalism. So, as you know, there are 98 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:05.800 lots of free market think tanks, both on university campuses 99 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:11.399 and state policy think tanks, all of which are great 100 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:15.480 for the most part, all of which I support. The 101 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:18.120 difference though, between all of these free market think tanks 102 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.639 and what we do is the emphasis on the moral 103 00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:23.279 foundations of capitalism. So all of these other thing tanks 104 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:26.879 are run by economists for economists. They all do public 105 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:30.920 policy work in the area of economics. We don't do 106 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.240 any of that, So I'm not an economist. Nobody that 107 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:37.600 I've hired as an economist, in fact, will never hire 108 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:44.759 an economist. We focus on the moral, the historical, the 109 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:50.720 constitutional foundations, not just of capitalism. In many ways, I mean, 110 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:53.839 you could say a better name for the institute would 111 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:56.240 now be the SNOW Institute for the Study of a 112 00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:00.639 Free Society. That's we're interested in promoting a free society 113 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:05.000 in its various aspects, but most importantly morally right. So 114 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:09.480 we want to be able to defend leis a fair 115 00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:13.759 capitalism morally speaking, because as you know, that's where it 116 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:16.480 needs the greatest defense. The fact of the matter is, 117 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:20.600 you know, in any battle of ideas between economics and 118 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:25.199 morality over the long term, morality always wins out, which 119 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:30.079 is precisely why the defenders, conservative and libertarian defenders of 120 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:33.279 capitalism continue to lose, right, because they just want to 121 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.279 defend it on economic grounds. The problem with that, however, 122 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:40.199 is that even Karl Marx understood that capitalism is the 123 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:43.199 most productive and efficient economic system ever devised by man. 124 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:48.319 He wrote that exactly in the Communist Manifesto, right. And 125 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:53.959 the problem is that capitalism, with the exception obviously of 126 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:58.720 iin Rand, has never had a proper moral defense. And 127 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:02.800 absolutely that is true in the context of American higher education. 128 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:07.240 So that's our mission. And you know, we, as I said, 129 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.560 we do conferences, we do lecture series. 130 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:09.839 To promote that. 131 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:14.480 And going forward, one of the things that we plan 132 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:17.279 to do in the next couple of years is to 133 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:22.199 launch what we call the Atlas Shrugged Project. So our 134 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:27.879 goal is to make Atlas Shrugged great again, at least culturally, 135 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:32.799 by which I mean, you know, we want hundreds of thousands, 136 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:39.519 if not millions, of Americans, particularly young Americans, reading at lists. 137 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.080 So that that is something that's a new program that 138 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:43.720 we're going to be launching in the next copy. 139 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:45.120 So what would be what would be the way in 140 00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:46.879 which you'd achieve something like that? 141 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:52.679 Yeah, So you know, the first, as with everything we 142 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:55.159 do here at Clemson, we start, we start locally, that 143 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:59.519 is to say, working Atlas Shrugged into courses here at 144 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:06.120 Clemson University, running reading groups here at Clemson, and then 145 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:09.320 but we want to expand out and this will be 146 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:14.559 more of a community oriented program. So the idea is 147 00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:21.919 to find ways, probably I'm sure, via online courses that 148 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:26.440 focused primarily, if not exclusively, on Atlas Shrug. And you 149 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:30.159 know what I'd like to see is I'd like to 150 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:36.639 see the rebirth of the old Iron Rand campus clubs. 151 00:09:36.679 --> 00:09:40.240 And I mean that was one of my earliest and 152 00:09:40.279 --> 00:09:45.000 first introductions to the objectivist movement. 153 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:45.679 I remember. 154 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:48.519 This would have to go back to the early eighties, 155 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:51.200 I think, and I remember being at Boston. 156 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:55.080 I was I was attending a lecture at Boston. 157 00:09:56.840 --> 00:09:58.039 I think it's there. 158 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:01.840 You go attending a lecture at Boston University by Peter Schwartz. 159 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:07.840 And yeah, and you know those were pretty heavy days, 160 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:12.039 and so I I want to try to sort of 161 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:17.759 revive that would be amazing, you know, Atlas Shrugged in 162 00:10:17.799 --> 00:10:22.919 the culture generally, but but more particularly with with college students. 163 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:26.240 And so you know, we're going to think of ways 164 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:29.639 to make that happen. And I also want to start 165 00:10:29.720 --> 00:10:32.559 running some summer conferences. I want to bring back our 166 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:37.519 Atlas Shrugged in the Moral Foundation of Capitalism conferences. My 167 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:40.480 real dream, My real dream though, is I want to 168 00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:46.799 I would like to uh start running summer conferences on 169 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:51.879 Atlas in. Tell ride Colorado, which I know you've been 170 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:52.200 there for. 171 00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:54.840 It's beautiful of those beautiful places on the planet. 172 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.919 It is, and I actually think that it is a 173 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:02.320 better representation of Galt's gulch then you ray Colorado, which 174 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:04.840 which is said to be the place that I ran. 175 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:08.440 It is the place spied hoe. But tell you it 176 00:11:08.519 --> 00:11:11.759 is more dramatic that the cliffs on both sides are 177 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:15.120 much much taller and much more value, is much more 178 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:21.120 dramatically set. It is. So you talk about the more 179 00:11:21.159 --> 00:11:25.759 foundations of capitalism, what extent is is objectivism a part 180 00:11:25.799 --> 00:11:29.279 of the of that mission, if you will. 181 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:31.840 Yeah, no, it's it's at the heart of the mission, 182 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:34.000 because where else would you go. 183 00:11:34.440 --> 00:11:36.799 Right, Well, Adam Smith would claim he has them all 184 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.720 defensive capitalism, right, he. 185 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:43.320 Would kind of sort of claim, but it's it's it's 186 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:47.360 self evidently not sufficient. Not and only is it not sufficient, 187 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:52.720 it's wrong on many many levels. And you know, he 188 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:58.799 completely concedes to altruism as a first premise. Right, His 189 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:04.600 defense of cap morally speaking, is because we can help 190 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:08.600 a lot of people. And it's true that capitalism delivers 191 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:11.960 the goods and raises the boat for for everybody. But 192 00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:15.960 that's is not and should not be the primary moral defense. 193 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.799 The primary moral defense of capitalism is that it's grounded 194 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:25.240 in human nature and in the greatest possibilities of human nature. 195 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:30.600 And and you know that that's what we have to 196 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:34.480 that's what we have to liberate and and and if 197 00:12:34.759 --> 00:12:40.000 in the sense we discover is that you know, I 198 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:43.519 Ran talked about the virtue of selfishness, and we should 199 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:47.639 be talking about the moral virtues of capitalism. And so, yeah, 200 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:49.639 we're gonna make Atlas great. 201 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:55.320 Again, as is always great again, Well it is always great. 202 00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:57.240 But in the culture. 203 00:12:57.320 --> 00:13:00.159 Yeah, Atlas great again. In the culture, it's that it's 204 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:06.320 a long that's a long one. So the big program, 205 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:10.080 or the program I think you spend the most time 206 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:14.279 on within the institute is the Lyceum. Lyceum program we 207 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:17.360 us actively with students. Once you talk a little bit 208 00:13:17.399 --> 00:13:19.279 about that and how that's changed over the years. 209 00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:25.080 Yeah, So we started the Lyceum scholars Program in twenty fourteen. 210 00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:29.799 It was kind of a wild idea I had. The 211 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:35.200 original idea was actually much bigger and more ambitious, but 212 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:38.240 in order to get up and running, we chose a 213 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:41.080 much more modest plan, which it turns out I think 214 00:13:41.159 --> 00:13:45.600 was a much better idea to begin with. So the 215 00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:48.080 first thing to say about the Lyceum scholars Program is 216 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:51.480 that it's a scholarship program. Up until this year, we 217 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:56.320 have given ten scholarships per year to incoming freshmen, renewable 218 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:00.759 over four years, which means high school students high school 219 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:04.600 seniors apply for it, and we use a great books 220 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:09.279 approach to studying the history of liberty, capitalism, the American founding, 221 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:13.200 and the principles of moral character. And in exchange for 222 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:18.960 the scholarship, the students take our eight course curriculum. So 223 00:14:19.080 --> 00:14:23.360 freshman year they take a course called Wisdom of the Ancients, 224 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:26.399 of course, an ancient Greek and Roman moral thought. I'll 225 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:30.799 just give you one course of each year. Second year 226 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:34.399 they do a course on the political theory of capitalism, 227 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:35.840 in which we do. 228 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:37.080 Use Atla Shrug. 229 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:41.159 In their junior year they do a course on the 230 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:44.519 American political thought of the American Founding. And then in 231 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:47.039 the senior year they do a course called Wisdom of 232 00:14:47.080 --> 00:14:51.519 the Moderns, which is modern moral thought. Essentially, generally speaking, 233 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:57.080 the books change every year, but Shakespeare to Iinrand and 234 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:02.639 the course as it's currently being taught includes the fountain 235 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:07.320 Head excellent. Yeah, so it's it's it's a kind of 236 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:10.919 Great Books curriculum, but not simply a Great Books curriculum. 237 00:15:10.919 --> 00:15:16.960 It has these particular emphasies. So our position, unlike many 238 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:20.279 other Great Books programs, is that we're not simply about 239 00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:23.120 the pursuit or the quest for truth, right, because a 240 00:15:23.159 --> 00:15:27.320 lot of these programs that they pursue, they pursue, but 241 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:29.159 they never get there right. 242 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:32.039 And they don't want to suggest, maybe that they can get. 243 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:35.240 Precisely right, that there actually is a truth, because to 244 00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:38.480 suggest that there is truth would be, from their perspective, 245 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:44.279 a kind of dogmatism. And our position is that there 246 00:15:44.360 --> 00:15:48.000 is truth, that the truth is something, that the truth 247 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:51.440 about things can be understood, and that and you know, 248 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:58.480 most university logos, most university mottos include. 249 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:03.039 Truth, right, but how many from an ancient tradition nobody 250 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:07.200 would do that today. 251 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:08.159 Precisely, And and the other the other, one of the 252 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:12.360 other virtues that they or values they talk about, is 253 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:13.200 virtue itself. 254 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:13.799 Right. 255 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:19.320 So the you know, Harvard motto and virtually all the 256 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.759 Ivy League mottos take very seriously when they were founded, 257 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:26.440 the ideas of truth and virtue. But of course they 258 00:16:26.440 --> 00:16:31.200 don't anymore, not even not even close, because from their perspective, 259 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:36.000 we live in a post truth society. And so in 260 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:37.960 addition to making Atlas great again, we're going to make 261 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:41.360 the truth great again and virtue and that's really kind 262 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:44.759 of at the heart. So we take very seriously. In 263 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:49.480 addition to this kind of modified Great Books program, we 264 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:55.360 take very seriously the question of moral character. Moral character 265 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:58.879 and the development of moral character within our students is 266 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:01.879 something we take seriously, very seriously, and I don't think 267 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:05.240 any other college or university with the exception possibly of 268 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:09.200 Christian colleges, right takes that seriously, but I think we 269 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:15.839 actually take it even more seriously through our Socratic tutor program. 270 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:20.240 So this Socratic tutor program that we run is there 271 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:22.920 is no other academic program in the United States or 272 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:26.480 really around the world quite like it. So what we 273 00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:29.920 do is we assign to each one of our Lyceum 274 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:33.279 scholars what we call socratic tutor. Socratic tutor is a 275 00:17:33.319 --> 00:17:38.319 faculty member connected to the program, and the socratic tutor 276 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:43.079 will meet with his or her two teas every other week. 277 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:48.200 And each tutor will have six or seven two teas, 278 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:50.119 and they meet the more than one and they meet 279 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:53.000 one on one, so this is not a group meeting. 280 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:55.599 They meet one on one for about an hour. 281 00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:58.319 Right. So that means over the course of the semester, 282 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:01.599 each student will meet with their tutor about eight times. 283 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:06.440 And the purpose of which is twofold first, to help 284 00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:10.480 these young men and women translate theory into practice. So, 285 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:16.200 for instance, if they are in our freshman course Wisdom 286 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:18.359 of the Ancients, this course of an ancient Greek and Roman 287 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:21.160 moral thought, and one of the books they read is 288 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:23.759 Aristotle's Nick McKee and Ethics well, I can tell you, 289 00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:26.640 as somebody who is much older than you know, an 290 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.880 eighteen year old reading it for the twentieth time is 291 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:33.319 still a challenge. It's a very very difficult book. And 292 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:36.200 the question is how does your typical eighteen year old 293 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:42.839 twenty first century American translate Aristotle's ideas into their lives 294 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:48.119 here now today. So that's the first concern, right, and 295 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:52.480 because that's we take that seriously, because we don't think 296 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:57.680 reading great books is simply about philosophizing. 297 00:18:56.839 --> 00:18:59.759 Abstract knowledge absake of abstract knowledge. 298 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:04.599 Precisely right, Yeah, it is for living, that's precisely right. 299 00:19:05.319 --> 00:19:07.400 But that's the hard part. That's where the rubber hits 300 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:10.359 the pavements, and the question is how do you do that? Right? 301 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:16.119 We don't want our young people just philosophizing about ideas 302 00:19:16.920 --> 00:19:20.839 and then you know, on Friday and Saturday night doing 303 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:24.000 lots of things that maybe they ought not to be doing. Right. 304 00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:27.279 In the end, we want them to lead lives of 305 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:30.079 nobility and honor. And that goes to the second purpose 306 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:34.079 of the Socratic tutor program, which is we take the 307 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:38.000 question of moral character very seriously, and we want our 308 00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:42.880 students to think seriously about moral character and their own 309 00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:45.720 moral character in particular. And you know, the fact of 310 00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:50.640 the matter is, most young people ages eighteen to their 311 00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:54.559 early twenties, they don't really think seriously or deeply about 312 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:58.440 the question of moral character and their moral character in particular. 313 00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:05.799 And so through these conversations we get them to do that. Now, 314 00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:08.720 let me make it clear, however, the purpose of this 315 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:14.000 is not by the end of their four years to create, generate, 316 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:21.880 promote a kind of ideal student or citizen or person 317 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:25.200 of moral character. Right. We're not that vain that we 318 00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:27.599 think that we can do that or even should do that. 319 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:31.079 What we're really trying to do is plant seeds. Right, 320 00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:35.440 So my goal is not to transform some young person's 321 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:38.359 life over the course of four years. My goal, my 322 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:41.920 hope is that you know, maybe ten years down the road, 323 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:46.720 when they're married and maybe are starting to have kids 324 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:49.599 and have a job, and they for they face the 325 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:55.079 first crisis, the first real major crisis of life, and 326 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:58.720 you know, and they're struggling, and and you know, maybe 327 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:02.440 maybe one of these students will back to those sessions 328 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:05.240 that he had with one of our socratic tutors and think, yeah, 329 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:10.799 I remember that conversation with professor X, and he or 330 00:21:10.839 --> 00:21:14.799 she said something that actually applies to this crisis that 331 00:21:14.839 --> 00:21:18.359 I'm dealing with in life right now. Right, So we're 332 00:21:18.440 --> 00:21:21.440 really just planning seeds with the hope that they'll bloom 333 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:22.400 later in life. 334 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:24.640 So, a lot of a lot of people out there 335 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:27.519 in the culture because of religion, I think, view mal 336 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:30.680 character as a list of negatives. You know, don't party 337 00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:34.960 too hard, don't do this, don't do that, and commandments 338 00:21:35.079 --> 00:21:38.680 and focus primelion the negative and what not to do. 339 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:42.240 Rand's of course view of ethics is very different than that, 340 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:46.559 and and agents have a different perspective. And so how 341 00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:50.039 do how do you how do your socratic tutors approach 342 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:52.640 this question of what is what does it mean to 343 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:55.200 have moral character? Because obviously there's not agreement about what 344 00:21:55.240 --> 00:21:56.079 it even means. 345 00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:59.039 Yeah, and I can tell you that not all of 346 00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:03.279 my faculty agree on all of these issues. Right, So 347 00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:08.839 we come to these questions sometimes with somewhat relatively speaking, 348 00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:14.319 different perspectives, But the focus really is on trying to 349 00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:16.839 get the most out of these young people, right. So, 350 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:21.519 you know, we live in a time and age where 351 00:22:21.640 --> 00:22:27.759 many young people have a deficit of meaning in their lives. Right. 352 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:31.759 And you know, there's there's the there's this famous book 353 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:34.480 written in the forties or fifties, the Search for Meaning. 354 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:37.839 Yep uh. And you know, and I and I think 355 00:22:38.519 --> 00:22:42.079 as that you know gen Z today as much as 356 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:45.160 any generation that I've ever known in you know, in 357 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:49.559 my adult lifetime, is searching for meaning, right and and 358 00:22:49.559 --> 00:22:51.759 and so you know, one of the questions that I'll ask, 359 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:54.079 one of one of the first questions that I might 360 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:56.799 ask a student when they one of my own tutor 361 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:03.359 two teas, is so you're on who is the best 362 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:09.039 version of yourself in ten years? Right? And of course 363 00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:10.680 they've never thought, really thought about that. 364 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:12.160 Question, particularly when you're young. 365 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:13.200 Yeah, And the. 366 00:23:13.160 --> 00:23:15.880 First go to answer is, well, you know, I want 367 00:23:15.880 --> 00:23:20.119 to be a lawyer, and maybe I'll be married, maybe 368 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:22.680 I'll have kids. And I'll say, no, no, no, that's that's 369 00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:25.599 those are all fine things, right, But that's not what 370 00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:25.960 I mean. 371 00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:27.480 What's the best. 372 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:31.200 Version of yourself? Morally? Who is who is the person 373 00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:34.720 that you want to become? So one day, yes, you know, 374 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:38.480 you may be you may be a husband or a wife. 375 00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:40.680 You may be a mother or a father, you may 376 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:44.119 be a ballet instructor, you may be a soccer coach, 377 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:48.640 You're certainly going to be a colleague. And and in 378 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:52.319 all of those relationships, these you will have moral relationships 379 00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:54.240 with all of these people in your in your life. 380 00:23:54.759 --> 00:23:58.559 And what is the best version of yourself that will 381 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:04.279 help other people to become better themselves. But in the end, 382 00:24:04.519 --> 00:24:08.079 the real question it's not about so much first your 383 00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:11.880 relationship with other people. It's always about your relationship with 384 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:17.440 with yourself, right, That's what is most important. And in 385 00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:20.000 my experience, this is the one thing that I find 386 00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:24.200 that most young people, in fact, not even young people, 387 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:28.279 I think most people that I've experienced in my life, 388 00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:34.000 they don't have a proper relationship with themselves, right. They 389 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:38.720 don't introspect deeply enough into who they are, what they are, 390 00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:42.400 what their virtues and vices are, and what that best 391 00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:47.920 version of themselves is and or could be, right and so, 392 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:54.519 and of course what that means is this is fundamentally 393 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:59.559 a question about truth, right, discovering the truth about oneself, 394 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:06.359 discovering the truth about one's values, discovering the truth about 395 00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:11.799 one's own choices in life. Right. And and you know, 396 00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:13.359 one of the things I talk about with my students 397 00:25:13.400 --> 00:25:16.119 in our soocratic tutor sessions, actually is the question of truth. 398 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:20.440 So you're on, you know, what is truth? Young? 399 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:21.200 Young You'uron? 400 00:25:21.319 --> 00:25:24.759 An eighteen year old Uron comes into my office, sits down, 401 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:27.680