Aspen Philosophy in Society

In our proposal, we argued that the current instability in American society makes it ripe for new paradigms and habits, and in this environment, public philosophy can become an important culture-shaping force, inspiring new ideas, virtues, and practices. Philosophy, as we define it, is the relentless insistence on asking primary questions. Our approach to philosophy overlaps closely with JTF’s emphasis on intellectual humility, defined as the capacity to recognize “our intellectual limitations in the service of pursuing deeper knowledge, truth, and understanding.” In this project we build on significant institutional resources via Aspen Institute’s Philosophy & Society Initiative, and successful DC-based pilots including an energetic yearly philosophy salon attracting participants from the highest levels of media, think tanks, and government; as well as an “owned media” outlet, called Wisdom of Crowds, which attracts robust audiences of 100,000+ per month, and has the capacity to drive other outside media, for example via frequent citations in the New York Times and other national newspapers. Building on these promising experiments, we will develop four activities to expand the depth and range of the influence of public philosophy: —A Philosophy R&D Lab designed to incubate creativity, and influence public conversation via owned media and external publications; —A Podcast Series about the future of humanity (distributed via Wisdom of Crowds); —An Emerging Writers Workshop, based in DC, specifically designed to find and launch new talent focused on virtue and first principle inquiry into public conversation; —Expanding our Philosophers’ Salon beyond DC, with the aim of giving broader audiences an opportunity to experiment with the ideas and habits of philosophy.