Our Moderators represent a broad range of backgrounds and sectors. What they all have in common is their enduring curiosity and a love for learning. It’s what makes them great Moderators – and why we ask them to share their favourite reads from throughout the year.
Recommended by Peter Mares:
“I recommend two books published in Australia this year that both engage with the thought of the great 20th Century US philosopher John Rawls. The first is Liberalism as a Way of Life, by University of Sydney philosopher Alexandre Lefebvre and the second is Free and Equal by Daniel Chandler from the London School of Economics.
With liberal democracy under threat, both writers argue that we need reinvigorate Rawls’ ideas about justice for the 21st Century. I wrote about these books for Inside Story in this review essay: Marinating in Liberalism“.
Recommended by Dr Cressida Gaukroger:
“I recommend Lifeboat : Disability, Humanity and the NDIS by Micheline Lee (Quarterly Essay number 91)
Micheline Lee’s Quarterly Essay provides deeply engaging insights into the NDIS. Lifeboat combines the stories of her own experiences and those of others as people with disability in Australia, with an intellectual and political analysis of the conception, delivery, strengths and failings of the NDIS.
It was only after reading this book that I felt I truly understood the NDIS, with Lee deftly capturing the ethical complexities that accompany its story with compassion, pragmatism, and a compelling writing style.”
Recommended by Sarah Sheppard:
“I’m reading Gliff by Ali Smith at the moment. It is such exquisite writing about two children navigating an unjust future world. When they awaken to see a thick red paint line around their house – and later – around their caravan, it feels as though they have been ‘marked’.
But amongst the dread is beauty of individual moments – a child threading buttercups through their hair and a grey horse with trusting eyes. It is ominous and a bit haunting, but definitely making me think!”
Recommended by Associate Professor Leslie Cannold:
“I have a few readings I’d suggest. Vaclav Havel’s essay The Power of the Powerless and Tim Snyder’s On Freedom. Both are powerful meditations on what freedom means. Namely – as Snyder argues – more than an absence of constraint, but the capacity for combining values in unique ways to express the creativity of each individual life. Havel is eloquent about what it’s like to live in the unfreedom of the eastern communist blocs, and how everyday acts of what he calls living in the truth that Americans like myself took for granted take on extraordinary meaning in what he calls the post-totalitarian world of mystification, conformity and discipline.
Havel’s key point is urgent for Americans and important for Australians today, which is that the individual is either resisting or reinforcing the system through the everyday choices they make. “By breaking the rules of the game in even small ways, writes Havel, the dissenter disrupts it, “exposing it as a mere game” and by so doing demonstrates that it is possible to live with a unique identity and the dignity of expressing one’s true thoughts, about a regime “captive to its own lies,” and everything else.“
Recommended by Carl Murphy:
“A couple of books I read this year that I both enjoyed (ie they were accessible) and benefited from:
We are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt and Lessons in Love and Disobedience by Lyndsey Stonebridge. A very interesting examination of Hannah Arendt’s thinking from a thematic perspective rather than strictly biographical.
David Runciman’s A History of Ideas: Runciman picks a series of key books by great thinkers from the 18th century on and examines the ideas behind them; including John Rawls, Simone de Beauvoir, Jeremy Bentham and Rosa Luxemburg. He adopts the very useful approach of ‘first understand then critique”.
Recommended by Frank Di Giorgio:
“In this compelling recasting of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The One’s Who Walk Away From Omelas, the author confronts the reader with uncomfortable perspectives on our contemporary existence. Does it do justice to the original story? You be the judge while sipping your drink by the pool this summer…
And in this essay from Aeon magazine, Edith Hall reminds us of the brilliance of Aristotle’s thinking. It would be a big mistake, she argues, to dismiss his ideas simply because some of them may be discordant to us today. In fact, we need his clarity and insights more than ever.
For alumni this article will both refresh their memory of Aristotle’s key ideas on the ethics of virtue, and reveal their deep impact over the centuries. Not only that, reading it will ensure a eudemonic holiday break!!“
Recommended by Jacqueline Stone:
“It’s called “Freedom to Think: The Long Struggle to Liberate Our Minds” by Susie Alegre. It’s not a new book but its very thought provoking and draws on both Eastern and Western philosophy. The chapter about the husband and wife duo of John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill was particularly interesting as this pair is familiar to Colloquium participants.
It’s interesting how relevant and contemporary many of the issues raised seem to be and after reading it I heard many echoes of her arguments and warnings in the press.“
Recommended by John Fenwick:
“I recently read Free Will, Free Action and Moral Responsibility, an article by Oliver Caute that’s a pretty good synopsis of the challenges of thinking about free will. (Medium account needed to access)
I have been doing some work with aviation organisations and with Defence on the issue of a just culture. In particular, finding the right balance between encouraging openness in reporting mistakes and errors, and yet ensuring that negligence and complacency are not tolerated. At what point do we reach to punitive measures? And how do we help management determine culpability and/or root cause of an issue/accident/complaint, then determine what is the right thing to do about it, and what mitigators should they consider, mindful of the culture that they are trying to create?
The concept of whether free will exists, and in what form, can at times seem distant and esoteric, and at others extremely relevant to this discussion, especially if managers are reflective and mindful of their leadership influence and what the language they use says about them and who they want to be.“
Across our Flagship and custom programs, our Moderators contribute their expertise to bring the Cranlana methodology to life.
Find out more about this group of people, their motivations and the experiences that have made them a great fit for our unique purpose.
