Thomas More Foundation

Commissioned by the international education network Fundación Parentes, the Thomas More Foundation is a developing collaboration of educators and academics who want to correct the UK’s relative lack of quality intellectual formation and humanities education. We recognise the incommensurable value of the humanities as those disciplines which instruct us on the very idea of value, without which we cannot effectively discriminate true from false, good from evil, meaningful from expedient. 

Recovering the idea of a liberal education, we believe, will be instrumental to reminding the UK audience of the humanities’ uniquely determinative role in character formation. A liberal education emphasises the intrinsic value of study and becoming familiar with alternative perspectives throughout history and how they have come to shape the present discourse. Relatedly, it emphasises the integration of knowledge across subjects, especially across the sciences and the humanities, rather than thinking of subjects as separate from one another. A liberal education reminds us not only of the intrinsic value of the humanities but also of their practical use: for the enculturation and critical mindset they offer is imperative to all walks of life. 

Intellectual formation aims at a refined mind, which is in turn rooted in character. Although it is common in theory to distinguish intellectual and character formation, in practice the difference can only be one of emphasis. Our programme utilises the socratic seminar to encourage students in the intellectual and moral habits that distinguish an organised and thoughtful mind from one less well formed. We want our students to leave each session with a renewed desire to read and think more deeply, having given them the means to effectively do so. 

It is common for students to have gone through the education system with minimal exposure to humanities. Some parents make the decision to enrol their children with centres that provide a quality classical education from the early years onwards. Whilst this is laudable, our aim is to cater for those who have not had this opportunity to study a classical curriculum for several years. So we have distilled the best of a classical education into a series of weekly seminars accessible to students from all backgrounds. See 'Eudaemonia' for more information.