One-to-one
A continuing conversation with someone who knows your thinking. We study ideas together and return to them as your understanding develops, with our full attention and room to pursue what matters to you.
Would you enjoy this?
- LengthOne year, renewable
- Fee£12,950 a year
- FormatOne-to-one, a small group, or both
- Prior studyNone. Curiosity is enough
What it is
You bring the questions. We bring twenty-five centuries of people who’ve wrestled with them.
You might bring a question about your work, or want to understand a thinker you’ve been reading. Curiosity is enough to begin.
Where it begins
Everyone starts with The Ground.
We begin by examining the assumptions beneath your thinking.
01
What is real?
What you believe about how the world, and the people in it, work.
02
How do you know?
How you decide what to believe.
03
What matters?
What you consider worth pursuing, and why.
These questions give us somewhere to begin. We return to them as your understanding develops.
Try it yourself Start exploring these three questions now with The Ground Beneath, a free twenty-minute instrument that maps what you assume about reality, knowledge and value. BeginHow it develops
Then it unfolds.
We introduce philosophical ideas, explain them carefully and explore them with you.
Your questions help shape what we study. We also bring thinkers you might never have thought to explore, and there’s time to stay with something difficult and return to it with a different understanding.
Our approach is rooted in syntropology. We explore how your way of living affects your capacity to develop, and what it makes possible for others.
The aim is to become wiser about how you live. Along the way, you may discover interests that become an absorbing part of your life.
You don’t have to know everything you want to learn before you begin.
Who you might meet
Old minds, live questions.
Examples, not a syllabus.
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What stays the same when everything changes?
Heraclitusc. 500 BCE
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Which of your values did you actually choose?
Friedrich Nietzsche1844 to 1900
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What happens when you stop forcing it?
Lao Tzuc. 6th century BCE
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What does it mean to think for yourself?
Hannah Arendt1906 to 1975
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What are you really paying attention to?
Simone Weil1909 to 1943
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Whose life are you living?
Martin Heidegger1889 to 1976
How you take part
One-to-one, or alongside others.
A matched group
People who take one another’s questions seriously, matched with care for their curiosity and willingness to think beyond a familiar position. Someone else’s question can become the one you’re still thinking about a week later.
Membership can include both. We discuss the arrangement with you before you join.
Massive ideas that make you question who you are, how you live, and what actually matters.
It continues to be invaluable in all aspects of my life.
It really enabled me to think ‘bigger picture’ and become more grounded.
It helped me gain deep insights on what I shall become. I’m very grateful.
Case studyWhat keeps Tim coming back?
Tim Johns, a Director at Octopus Electric Vehicles, arrived expecting management frameworks. He found an interest in philosophy that keeps deepening, and a different way of leading his team.
Practicalities
A few practical questions.
Would I enjoy working this way?
Probably, if you find yourself returning to questions that the working day leaves little room for, and you want to understand the ideas behind them and what they might mean for how you live.
Thinking Fit is a short reflection on what you want from learning and conversation. It gives us somewhere to begin when we meet.
Do I need to know any philosophy?
You don’t need to have studied philosophy. You do need to make time for it, and be willing to question views you’ve held for years.
Why develop a philosophy of my own?
You already have beliefs about what matters and how life works. They influence your decisions, whether you’ve examined them or not.
When those beliefs pull in different directions, pressure can decide which one wins. Developing a philosophy helps you understand what you stand for, recognise contradictions and decide what needs to change.
Does having a philosophy mean having fixed answers?
No. You need convictions you can act on, and the willingness to reconsider them. Philosophical thinking involves examining your reasons, taking objections seriously and recognising when your understanding no longer fits the situation.
What does membership cost?
A year with Syntropise is £12,950.
We work with you throughout the year, teaching philosophy and exploring what it means for your life and work.
We agree a regular rhythm of meetings and how we’ll work together, individually and alongside others. There’s room to follow a question further and adjust as your interests develop.
One annual payment. An ongoing relationship.
Can I bring my own interests?
Yes. Bring a thinker, a book or an idea you’ve been turning over, and we’ll help you explore it.
How do I join?
We begin with a conversation about what interests you and how you’d like to learn. You get to know us, and we get a sense of whether the work would suit you.
Thinking Fit can give us a starting point, and we decide together whether to go further. The first conversation costs nothing.