Public lectures
If you are seeking further education in the Humanities and Social Sciences and prefer it to be conducted in a physical classroom, the New Mandarinate School caters for that.
Over the past few years I have been delivering public lectures in these areas, most notably my lectures Enlightenment, Critique and Public Discourse (2021), Modernity & Mandarinism (2024) and Mandarin Studies, History & Theory (2024). The lecture booklets can be purchased on this website in the Store section:
The public lectures are comprised of an address usually of one hour and 30 minutes to two hours in duration, a PowerPoint presentation and time for questions/discussion at intervals throughout and after the completion of the lecture. You can purchase the lecture booklets in physical form in person at the public lectures, or in digital booklet form on the website. I am currently seeking a more permanent classroom venue in Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs at which regular classes will be held.
In addition to individual lectures, we also offer a full 10-week ‘mandarinisation’ course, which will be both available on the website in pre-recorded video form and conducted via live Zoom sessions. The 10-week ‘mandarinisation’ course operates upon the following thesis:
What people today want and need is a more satisfying relationship to knowledge and power, society and government. I call this process “mandarinism”/“mandarinisation”. It is not primarily an attempt to create a new privileged educational layer in society; it is an attempt to empower people democratically through education, leading to enrichment and an increased sense of responsibility and autonomy.
From an academic perspective, the 10-week course offers public education in the following areas and more:
1.) sociology/social science/social ontology – Sociology or social science is the study of human society that focuses on the structures and institutions of society and their relationship to the individual or groups, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with “everyday life”. (Has a claim to inter-disciplinarity and being “the queen/mother of the social sciences” due to generalization and vast reach/overlap). Social ontology is a branch of ontology. Ontology is the philosophical study of being and existence – the nature/structure of the being of entities/phenomena. Social ontology, specifically, examines the social world, and the nature and dynamics of social interaction. A primary concern of social ontology is social groups, whether or not they exist (and if so, in what way) and how they differ from any given collections of people. Much of social ontology is conducted within the social sciences, and is concerned with institutions, people, groups and their inter-relationality in society.
2.) existentialism – Existentialism is an area of philosophy that explores the theme of human existence. Existentialist philosophers consider questions related to the meaning, purpose, and value of human existence. Existentialism reminds us of the value and irreducibility of each individual from an experiential point of view, and keeps us from being beholden to huge intellectual/theoretical structures and systems which can sometimes overlook the individual’s existence and experience. Existentialism also helps to remind us of the value of vitality, creativity, empathy, authenticity, engagement and agency.
3.) mandarin studies/history/theory – The study of the history of mandarins and the mandarin class, examples of “mandarin moments” or dilemmas/problems and how to approach/overcome them, and the development and exploration of the theory of neo-mandarinisation I am presenting (aka the democratisation of mandarinism). “Cratology” (the study of power) towards “democratology” (the democratisation of the study of power, and the study of democracy and democratisation itself).
4.) the philosophical discourse of modernity – A subject within social philosophy that attempts to explore the “discourse of modernity” and looks at all the different ways social philosophers and sociologists have responded to, conceptualized and critiqued modernity and examined its pros and cons from a variety of perspectives. Also referred to as “theories of modernity”, and could be called the “master discourse” and the best subject a university has to offer (in my humble opinion). It features figures from Rousseau and Kant, through Hegel, de Tocqueville, Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, Foucault, Baudrillard, Habermas and many others who have played a role in helping us to interpret and understand modernity, what it is and where it may or may not, should or should not be headed.
From an educational perspective, the NMS aims for students to achieve the following outcomes:
Subtlisation: Become a more subtle, nuanced thinker who can see a kaleidoscopic patchwork quilt where others just see a comparatively simple picture.
Complexification: Learn to synthesize and think syncretically, enabling your mind to complexify in order to make you more capable of confronting and overcoming life, intellectual and even societal problems.
Empathy: Responsible democratic citizenship requires the ability to think empathetically about a wide range of cultures, groups, and nations and the history of their interactions. The study of the arts and humanities, as well as the humanistic aspects of social science, play a crucial role in building the ability to imagine the experience and needs of others, aka to feel empathy, aka “empathetic understanding”.
Fluidity: Academics are trained be more flexible and fluid with knowledge, theory and concepts. Let me take you on a canonical path to this kind of fluidity that seeks to foster creativity and autonomous personal development.
Enrichment: My life has been enriched by the humanities & social sciences. Yours can be too, and in an ongoing, life-long way.
Empowerment: Could there be a pathway beyond traditional “politics” towards greater engagement with these areas of knowledge and their application to our society and democracy? That is what “mandarinisation” truly is: when we are working together on real social problems in a mutually beneficial and mutually recognising way.
Projected themes/topics for 10-week ‘mandarinisation’ course:
Inaugural lecture: Modernity & Mandarinism
Mandarin Studies, History & Theory
Self, Text and World (hermeneutics)
Environment/nature/climate emergency
Economics - foundations, history and structural reform
Modern criticism/the philosophical discourse of modernity/the Enlightenment project
Sociology/Social science
Existentialism
Culture/ideology/art
Religion/capitalism/law/formation of modernity
Tempted yet? Stay tuned to the News/Events section of the website for upcoming public lectures …