This project led by Samuel Kimbriel of Aspen Institutes’s Philosophy & Society Initiative aims to develop a community of philosophical inquiry each year, in which leaders who are responsible for shaping culture (in media, publishing, academia, and politics) can grapple directly with the questions of what virtue looks like in today’s changing and fragmenting world. This two-year program will focus on two themes, sequentially: 1) Trust in an age of technological and social change; and 2) Personal virtue in an age of boundless choice.

Building on several promising pilot efforts, the project will develop deep communities of practice that reach a wide public audience through carefully-designed pipelines of influence:

1. A Philosophers Roundtable will bring invited participants such as journalists (including stringers and foreign correspondents) from across the globe, researchers, nonprofit leaders, and members of the diplomatic corps together to debate and discuss a yearly theme addressing fundamental human questions.
    
2. Original research incubation will develop and distribute new, thematic insights, making use of the Aspen Institute staff’s range of experience – a unique blend of intellectual rigor and media agility.
    
3. An annual First Principles Symposium will complement the Philosophers Roundtable with an end-of-year event that deepens the discussion while showcasing the year’s work to a larger public. This event will mix public lectures and debates on the given annual theme with closed-door conversation.

These activities aim to build intellectual courage, risk-taking, and intellectual humility among elite journalists, opinion leaders, key public influencers/figures (media and press) and other public thinkers. These activities will also model and inspire an approach to public discourse which dives into essential themes and big questions related to character virtue science and human flourishing. A core aim is to facilitate broader culture-making, by bringing these themes and discussions into the highest levels of public discourse.