Aspen Leadership Seminar „Philosophy and Practice“ 2022

(06-09 October)

THURSDAY, 06 October

From 3:30 p.m. Arrival of participants and registration

Venue: Gut Klostermühle, Mühlenstraße 11, 15518 Briesen (Mark), Alt Madlitz

In between Time for leisure

Gut Klostermühle is located right on the rim of a little lake in the middle of the woods. You can use this time to discover the scenic landscape or enjoy the hotel’s spa area and fitness studio.

7:00 p.m. Welcome dinner (Klostermühle)

FRIDAY, 07 October

7:00 a.m. Morning stretch at the lake (voluntary)

From 7:30 a.m. Breakfast (Finckenlounge)

9:00 a.m. – 12:30 a.m. SESSION I: HUMAN NATURE

Coffee break 11:00 - 11:15 a.m.

We launch our Seminar with a look at different ideas of what it means to be human, beginning with ancient Greek philosophy and ending with modern social science. Assessments of who we are and what matters to us range from happiness, princely villainy and virtue, the war of all against all, means and ends, to shoving „a fat man“ onto the path of death. Collectively, these writings portray our species at its best and worst.

• Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book I and X (selections)

• Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Chs. 1,8, 15, 17, 18, 21

• Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chs. 13-15, 17 (selections)

• Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Ch.2 (selections)

• Judith Jarvis Thomson, The Trolley Problem (selection)

12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch (Klosterscheune)

1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Archery lesson (meeting point: Reception)

Archery enhances the physical health of one’s body by strengthening the hands, arms, joints, and lower back muscles. It also, however, helps improve one’s concentration, coordination and inner balance and encourages greater self-confidence and patience.

3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Expert Input: Leadership and Responsibility in the health sector

Prof. Dr. Rajan Somasundaram, Director Emergency Medicine Campus Benjamin Franklin, Charité

Coffee break 4:15 - 4:30 p.m.

4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. SESSION II: INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY

Our assessment of what it means to be human bears directly on the way in which we structure our personal lives and our communities. In these texts, economic and political concerns come to the fore, as well as the moral and ethical standards to which we hold ourselves. From the art of household management to utopia and genocide, we confront here the tensions that characterize our lives in society.

• E.O. Wilson, Consilience: the Unity of Knowledge, Ch. 12
• Paul Rusesabagina, An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography, Introd. and Ch. 11
• Karl Marx/Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Introd. and Chs. 1-2
• Nel Noddings, Starting at Home: Caring and Social Policy, Introd.
• Ursula Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

7:30 p.m. Dinner (Klostermühle)

SATURDAY, 08 October

7:00 a.m. Morning stretch at the lake (voluntary)

From 7:30 a.m. Breakfast (Finckenlounge)

9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. SESSION III: POSSIBILITIES OF ORDER

Photographer 11:00 – 12:00 a.m.

Coffee break 10:45 – 11:00 a.m.

Over the centuries, we have appealed to various principles as we ordered our societies, invoking formulae that promised efficiency,

community, equality, liberty, or some combination thereof as the desired end. Military might, individual wisdom, impersonal law, the

marketplace, and democracy have offered the means to bring such social engineering to fruition.

• Plato, The Republic, Book VII (selection)
• Abu Nasr al-Farabi, On the Perfect State (selection)
• Friedrich von Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, Chs. 3, 5, 8 (selections)
• Hernando de Soto, The Mystery of Capital, Ch. 7
• Aung San Suu Kyi, Empowerment for a Culture of Peace and Development

12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch (Klosterscheune)

1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Walk around the lake (meeting point: Reception)

2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Expert Input: Leadership and Responsibility in the Bundeswehr

Marcus Grotian, Senior Lieutenant, and Chairman of the Association Patenschaftsnetzwerk Afghanische Ortskräfte

Coffee break 3:45 – 4:00 p.m.

4:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. SESSION IV: LIMITS OF RULE

Coffee break 5:30 – 5:45 p.m.

Over two millennia, no work of art has captured more succinctly the limits of power than Sophocles’ playAntigone. King Creon is

determined to maintain peace and social order after a fratricidal rebellion at Thebes, but he confronts a different standard in the person of

his niece and grand-niece Antigone, who is determined to honor her two brothers with the proper death rituals and fulfill the legacy of her

father, King Oedipus.

• Sophocles, Antigone

7:30 – 8:30 p.m. Dinner (Klostermühle)

8:30- 9:30 p.m. Peer Review Feedback Session

In the framework of a structured moderation, participants will have the opportunity to receive feedback from their peers concerning a

personal challenge they face as a leader. Through open and guided rounds of listening and questions between the individual and her/his

peers, the group helps to seek a solution for the specific problem.

SUNDAY, 09 Oktober

From 7:30 a.m. Breakfast (Finckenlounge)

9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. SESSION V: LEADERSHIP

Coffee break 10:30 – 10:45 a.m.

How do we lead, and to what end? After our discussions of public order and private ambition and

principle, the readings for our last session offer us considered means of guiding our fellows. From

Plato’s cadre of enlightened rulers to Confucius’ gentleman, Lessing’s Nathan and Saladin to Martin

Luther King, Jr.’s, activist and Havel’s tactful politician, these individuals work to build the good

society.

• Confucius, Analects, (selections)
• Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise: Parable of the Three Rings
• Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham City Jail
• Vaclav Havel, Summer Meditations, Ch. 1 (selections)

12:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Farewell lunch (Klosterscheune)