Eudaemonia: A Curriculum Centred on Practical Wisdom

The effective delivery of the socratic seminar requires teachers to go beyond their nominal subject area and engage with all disciplines. Furthermore, they must also be thoughtful enough to work with students as they experiment with different ideas and entertain thoughts which, for reasons of personal experience or political persuasion, may strike them (the teachers) as highly disagreeable. This challenge to UK teachers has been called for by various leading educators and academics (Kadir, 2017; Franchi & Davis, 2021). Drs Leonard Franchi and Robert Davis (University of Glasgow) write:

Teachers are not, and cannot be, passive bystanders on the road to knowledge but shape the educational journey because they are (we trust) agents with substantial levels of subject and pedagogical expertise. This is not to denigrate the role teachers can often play as facilitators of student learning, far from it; but is a recognition that even successful facilitation, so to speak, requires a suitably deep understanding of the subject matter [...] The educated teacher—the living link between inherited traditions and the hopes and aspirations of current generations—must be both conservative/traditional and liberal/progressive: going beyond politically charged labels and transient false dichotomies while seeking to educate the person to be a free and flourishing individual-in-community. This is indeed a tall order and requires serious thinking on how such aspirations can be met. (Franchi & Davis, 2021, p. 109)

The 'intellectual, cultural, and pastoral formation' this requires points beyond "qualified teachers" and towards a need for "educated educators" (Ibid., p. 110). What the authors mean here is simply that we need to encourage teachers both beyond their subject specialism and beyond the specific set of facts which the curriculums that they deliver are made of. An "educated educator" is a teacher who takes an interest in the world as a whole, rather than as it is partitioned by convention. He or she reads widely, recognising that learning is not just for a career, but has intrinsic value. Finally, he or she is thoughtful about the conventional concepts and oppositions we use to navigate ideas: respectful of their utility, but weary of their propensity to oversimplify reality. It is precisely these habits, more than having a certain amount of knowledge, which is decisive for the socratic seminar, because it is these which the "educated educator" models for his or her students. 

We believe that the worldview of the "educated educator" necessarily involves four components: respect for the past, though by no means an uncritical respect; a view of the world as a complex and interconnected whole which cannot be easily separated into different faculties of knowledge; belief that the end of education is wisdom, the kind of understanding which enables us to contend with the world in its complex totality, which is not just theoretical but also practical, involving both mind and body; and aims towards enrichment above assessment. These are discussed in more detail below. 

The Thomas More Foundation wants to help teachers to become the "educated educators" their students deserve. Complementary to Eudaemonia is our second work-in-progress, a postgraduate certificate in the Great Works. This is a long way off, however. In the meantime, this website functions as a hub of supporting material for our Eudaemonia teachers. Our Eudaemonia project is not limited to producing a curriculum. We intend to publish resources to aid teachers build a broader base of knowledge upon which to deliver Eudaemonia seminars, including papers which walk through the history of some of the most important and recurring ideas in our curriculum. A recommended reading list will also be provided. Finally, we will offer training days for schools who newly acquire our resources. 

Presently, you can find articles which explore the values and history of our approach to education on our newsletters, articles, and events page. There are also several entries which explore the skills required to run a socratic seminar. 

History comes under much criticism in today’s society, and perhaps not without reason. We place a great deal of faith in our own modern sensibilities and tend to disregard the past, as though there might not be some substance behind these differences which can at least be investigated. Indeed, only by studying history and by scrutinising ourselves can we understand why we believe what we believe — and before we do this, what right have we to be so sure of ourselves? 

We want to remind teachers that, although our ancestors did not necessarily share our modern perspectives on politics and morality, and although they were largely ignorant of modern science — a point which is usually overstated — this does not mean that they have nothing to offer us. To take the contrary position unduly emphasises the differences over the similarities between us. There is a continuous, human story - triumphs and tribulations, cultivating virtues, vying to make sense of suffering, seeking to build a better life, wrestling with privation and uncertainty, living in hope and fear, making sacrifices so that future generations may inherit what is true, good, and beautiful — ultimately, it is a story of striving after wisdom. 

What tends to happen today is that the politicisation of education reduces the richness of this story to a limited number of dimensions concerning power and conflict. The questions surrounding society, power and justice that are the principal focus of most specifications have always been relevant, to be sure; but one also finds the question of the ‘good life’ considered as something qualified less by the moral state of society as by the moral state of the individual, to which the values of beauty, understanding, friendship and family, and virtue have traditionally been attached. Taking a step back, we are reminded of the experiences, values and obligations common to us all, regardless of time and social class. 

To encorage respect for the past, we prefer to look at any subject as a history of problems. Problems do not just present themselves in a vacuum, but they are contingent upon past discoveries and present circumstances without which they could never have been formulated. The German Enlightenment thinker Immanuel Kant would never have decided upon philosophy’s ‘turn to the subject’ if it wasn’t for the Scottish philosopher David Hume’s incisive critique of human knowledge. Again, the British mathematician Bertrand Russell would not have written his logical foundations for mathematics, Principia Mathematica, if he had not spotted the fatal paradox at the base of the German logician Gottlob Frege’s own attempt. It also happens that a problem is known but unanswerable for a long time, sometimes hundreds and even thousands of years. For instance, the fifth postulate of Euclid’s Elements, written around 500B.C., was not proven to be independent of and consistent with the other four postulates within his geometry until the C19th, when mathematicians first became interested in what they called non-Euclidean space, that is space which isn’t necessarily flat like a table surface but which can also be curved like a globe. The mathematics for modelling such geometry depends upon ‘imaginary numbers’ such as the square root of -1; these seemingly absurd numbers were not introduced until the middle of the C17th, but turned out to be essential to the physics behind electronics. 

By investigating the historical roots of the ideas and equations we teach our students, not only do they better understand the purpose behind them, but they will start to see that problems often recur throughout history. The more a problem recurs in history is an indication of how fundamental it is to our world and our relation to it. And the more this is so, the more likely it is that is it a problem common to multiple disciplines. For example, several of our seminars are devoted to the emergence of the mind-body problem in philosophy, biology, and robotics, and the implications it has for ethics. Students come to understand how an informed understanding of the nature of the human person enables them to criticise science, technology, and philosophy, when these propose solutions to problems which contradict our nature. 

Our curriculum is presented as a tube-map of possible seminars. Each tube represents a theme: service, culture, society, ecology, anthropology, wisdom, language, and science. The purpose of the tube-map illustration is to show the way in which subjects intersect. Today we tend to see subjects as discrete and to minimise their connections. We are especially fond of separating science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) subjects from the humanities. These divisions are historically unprecedented. Philosophy has always been as important a part of a student’s education as science, because philosophy helps the student understand the foundations of science and how it relates to other subjects such as maths and theology. If we consider the humanities / STEM divide, where do subjects such as archaeology or law fit? Additionally, UK students are specialised much earlier than in other countries. What impact does this have on their ability to to communicate with other students about their interests? Eudaemonia, by contrast, helps students to see the ways the various disciplines intersect.

Our emphasis on holistic and historically-minded education leads to the heart of the programme, wisdom. Most basically, wisdom may be seen as the ability to effectively act in and react to the world around us; it is knowing what to do, when to do it, and in what manner it ought to be done. Abandoning our compartmentalisation of subject matter and learning to see the world as a whole is critical to becoming an effective problem-solver, because the world is not always divided as neatly as our subject divisions suggest. An economist, for instance, needs an anthropology of man: he cannot treat the participants of the market economy as mere data points, but must think beyond these to the complex intrinsic and social motives, political and cultural influences, ecological contexts, technological developments, and sometimes entirely arbitrary preferences which colour every purchase. 

Building upon this, we may point to the irreducibly ethical dimension of acting in the world. Solving problems is not just about discerning a sequence of actions to take, but must also take into account the effects those actions have on ourselves, our families, our communities, our nation, and ultimately the world. Though a certain action may be expedient to solve a problem, what kind of a person would it make me in the eyes of others, and is that the person I want to be? Or, if I take this action, what other obstacles must I expect to encounter, and what kind of character will I need to overcome them? What kind of character do I need to overcome problems in general? It is in asking these questions that the substance of wisdom is found. As these examples show, wisdom is profoundly practical.

We believe that the pursuit of wisdom brings meaning and fulfilment which is enduring. The title of our programme, Eudaemonia, references Aristotle’s concept of human flourishing. This was not mere happiness or excitement, which is fleeting; Eudaemonia rather points to an enduring attitude which may be infused into the personality through habits of virtue, friendship, and frequent exposure to good quality art and literature. What is especially powerful about literature as a vehicle for studying virtue, is that the virtues are contextualised in complex narratives; the contextual complexity of wisdom must not be discounted. This gives the students’ much to reflect on in their own lives, inviting them to immerse themselves, not only in the content, but also the beauty of what they read. Further, the study of these texts in the seminar setting establishes a community of seekers of wisdom, and the friendships deepened here reinforce their understanding of wisdom.

Eudaemonia aims to enrich students and does not seek to formally assess them. For all that it is important to assess students retention of core subject matter, there is the danger that the student is led to view study as being ‘for the test’ rather than being intrinsically good. Eudaemonia offers each student a place in their school life to be frequently reminded of the intrinsic good of education amidst all their assessments. Our reading materials and set questions are often unorthodox and thought-provoking, borrowing from a range of classical, contemporary, and non-Western sources. Students are encouraged to reflect on the big ideas playing out in modern technological developments and their roots in older philosophical problems. Ultimately, students are free to think without the pressure of saying something ‘incorrect’ as they formulate their thoughts and develop their understanding.  

A purely enrichment focus frees us to foster a habit of intellectual engagement with the set texts, without which deeper forms of wisdom may be inaccessible. What used to come under the classical subjects of ‘logic’ and ‘rhetoric’ is now rarely taught systematically. But like all skills, there is nothing innate about being able to interrogate ideas effectively or to communicate with clarity. Our curriculum develops these abilities through practice, by getting students in dialogue with one another. We give students those intellectual habits which will be of immense service to them throughout their life.

Eudaemonia is built to serve as a one-year Sixth-Form core course. However, it is also designed for use as a supplement to existing courses. The tube-map concept facilitates this by presenting each seminar as belonging to one or more subject or theme, represented by a tube line. Accordingly, the curriculum is presented, on the one hand, as a single recommended sequence of seminars and, on the other, as a collection of smaller seminars which may be adapted to specific subjects for enrichment purposes. 

As it is the socratic method and not the content which principally defines Eudaemonia, the core content which we present may, at the discretion of the teacher, be substituted for other content to better suit the needs of their curriculum. Teachers may decide that other books better serve the needs of their classroom than those we have prepared. We have prepared advice to guide their selection. 

The Foundation has brought together groups of experienced academics and teachers pimarily in the UK and US to better inform the content and delivery of our curriculum. Our May 2024 symposium, which investigated the value of a liberal education and what could be done to promote it in the UK, was especially formative. 

The seminars we provide were inspired largely by Roy Peachey, a teacher, home educator, and the author of several books on classical Christian education, including 50 Books for Life: A Concise Guide to Catholic Literature (2019) and Out of the Classroom and Into the World: How to Transform Catholic Education (2018). He holds several degrees, including Modern History from Oxford, Chinese Studies from SOAS, University of London, a postgraduate diploma in Lake District Studies from Lancaster University, and is presently working towards a PHD in Theology and Contemporary Fiction at the University of Nottingham. Mr Peachey originally developed similar resources for the Cedars and Laurels Schools, South London, to enrich their existing courses. 

We've also had contributions from Joe Cook, an English teacher at Fidelis College (formerly Cedars and Laurels Schools), who has an MA in his subject, and Ciro Candia, who developed the Personal Excellence Programme for young people during his tenure at the Cedars and Laurels Schools.