Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Offered exclusively to Aspen Society members in partnership with the Socrates Program, this seminar convenes participants for a rigorous, text-based dialogue on the evolving relationship between human beings and the natural world. Set within an immersive indoor-outdoor environment, the experience will pair Socratic discussion with time spent exploring the Elk Mountains and the great outdoors. Drawing on a multidisciplinary canon from Thoreau and Darwin to contemporary voices, moderator veterans Elliot Gerson and Paul Andersen will help the group explore how humans have sought to tame, protect, and reshape nature while examining enduring questions about our place within it and how we define wilderness today.
Moderator: Paul Andersen has lived in the valley for 40 years and was a reporter, editor and regular contributor to The Aspen Times. He has authored 15 books about the region. Before reporting on the series “In search of community,” he last wrote for Aspen Journalism in 2014, penning stories on environment and history. He also moderates the Great Books Discussion Series at the Aspen Institute – a five-week program that invites participants to explore some of the most influential works in Western thought through guided weekly discussions.
Moderator: Elliot Gerson is a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute and the former Executive Vice President responsible for its Policy Programs and its International Partners. The Institute’s Policy Programs, approximately 30, account for the majority of The Institute’s operations and revenue. They foster candid, problem-solving dialogue among leaders and policy experts of diverse views, host leadership fellowships, range broadly beyond domestic and foreign policy to the arts, culture, philosophy and values, business, the sciences, and work for impact in communities both nationally and globally. Along with Walter Isaacson and Kitty Boone, he launched The Aspen Ideas Festival in 2005.
The four-day seminar is dedicated to enhancing leadership, problem solving, and critical thinking skills for high school students living in the Roaring Fork Valley.
The three-day seminar is dedicated to enhancing leadership, problem solving, and critical thinking skills for high school students in a setting conducive to thought and fellowship.
