Synesis: History of Ideas Podcast

In the second part of the conversation, we continue discussing conservatism with Thomas Charrayre, further exploring the intellectual landscape of the Cold War. We return to the thought of Raymond Aron, Michael Oakeshott, and Leo Strauss, reflecting on how each of them grappled with the challenges posed by modern democracy, the question of political authority, and the fate of the liberal tradition in the aftermath of totalitarianism. Although none of these figures explicitly claimed the label of “conservative” or saw themselves as part of a conservative movement, their work helped shape what can now be described as a distinctive philosophical orientation—one that reconsiders the foundations of political order, tradition, and prudence in modern political life.In this second part, we also focus more specifically on the construction of the figure of the “apolitical” scholar: a thinker who seeks to preserve a certain distance from partisan struggles and public controversies, presenting philosophical reflection as a form of sobriety and restraint in political judgment. We discuss how this posture emerged and how it contributed to defining a particular style of conservative thought—one marked less by ideological mobilization than by caution, skepticism toward political enthusiasm, and a preference for intellectual detachment.

In today's episode, Mateus talks with Thomas Charrayre, a PhD candidate in political theory at Sciences Po Paris. His dissertation examines Cold War conservatism through the works of Raymond Aron, Michael Oakeshott, and Leo Strauss, exploring how they rethought democracy, authority, and the liberal tradition in the shadow of totalitarianism. Without proclaiming to be "conservatives," nor believing they were part of a conservative "movement," these thinkers inaugurated a new philosophical category: Conservative Philosophy.

Today, Mateus and João start a new series within Synesis, where young scholars may share their research. We welcome Otto Lehto, a Research Fellow at NYU Center for Bioethics & Postdoctoral Fellow at NYU School of Law's Classical Liberal Institute. Through four articles ("Power to the Powerless: Evolutionary Liberalism and Social Emancipation"; "Evolution, Complexity and Intelligence: The Methodological Foundations of Evolutionary Liberalism"; "When Less is More: In Defence of Narrow, Humean Justice"; and "Foucault, Neoliberalism and Basic Income"), Otto reassesses the legacy of thinkers like David Hume, Herbert Spencer, Henry George, and F.A. Hayek to the future of a naturalist, Enlightenment-inspired conception of Evolutionary Liberalism, offering an intriguing and powerful defence of Classical Liberalism's main principles as a potentially radical inspiration for social change.

In this episode André interviews catholic theologian Grant Klapan about his latest book "Faith and Reason through Christian History: A Theological Essay" (The Catholic University of America Press, 2022) and the relationship between faith and reason as understood in modern catholicism and its German roots, and the way the Magisterium of the Catholic Church changed its attitude toward modern philosophies and the relationship between nature and grace.

Mateus, João and Mitch (guest interviewer) talk with Matthew McManus (Spelman College) about his "The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism: Neoliberalism, Post-Modern Culture, and Reactionary Politics" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) and "Myth and Mayhem: A Leftist Critique of Jordan Peterson" (Zer0 Books, 2020). In it, we address the transformations conservative and reactionary ideologies have suffered in the digital age, our post-modern condition, and the revolutionary character of Capitalism.

Mateus and João interview Professor David Lay Williams from DePaul University (USA) to talk about his book, "The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx" (Princeton University Press, 2024). Drawing from great thinkers of the Western Canon, David shows how inequality has always been considered a keen political problem in the West - until the rise of Capitalism and, with it, the hopes that an affluent world would cope with being unequal.

In this interview, Mateus interviews Jonathan Rose, renowned Historian, Professor of History, Director of the Graduate Program in Book History at Drew University, and the founding president of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing. We discuss his book, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, Yale University Press (2021, 3ed), the importance of Liberal Education for the emancipation of those that come from below, and the dangers of the current decline in reading rates!