Syntropise · A philosophical practice
A year with two philosophers who get to know you, teach you about extraordinary ideas and explore the questions that matter to you.
HeraclitusCan you ever step into the same river twice?
Lao TzuWhat happens when you stop forcing it?
Hannah ArendtWhat does it take to begin something new?
DiogenesWho decided what counts as success?
EpicurusHow much do you actually need to live well?
ZhuangziAre you dreaming of the butterfly, or is the butterfly dreaming of you?
Viktor FranklWhat is life asking of you?
Friedrich NietzschePlease don’t ask him about happiness.
Iris MurdochWhat if becoming a better person begins with learning to pay attention?
Simone WeilIs attention the rarest form of generosity?
Henri BergsonIs time something you measure, or something you live?
AristotleWhat would it mean to flourish?
William BlakeCan you see a world in a grain of sand?
René GirardDo you really want it, or do you want it because they do?
MontaigneWhat do I know?David thinks you’d like this one.
SocratesIs a life you never examine really yours?
Baruch SpinozaWhat if understanding a feeling is how you get free of it?
Gilles DeleuzeWhat can a body do?
Friedrich SchillerAre we only fully human when we play?
Thich Nhat HanhCan you wash the dishes just to wash the dishes?
SenecaIs life short, or do we waste most of it?
Marcus AureliusHow do you stay decent when you hold the power?
John StoszkowskiOpinions preserved. Revisions may be had at any time.
David PriestleySittings by appointment.
Friedrich SchellingIs nature spirit, still waking up?
AntisthenesWhat would you still do if nobody were impressed?
Byung-Chul HanAre you tired because you can do anything?
Mary MidgleyIs philosophy a kind of plumbing?
Jakob von UexküllWhat does the world look like to a tick?
Arthur SchopenhauerWhy does getting what we want never feel like enough?
G. W. F. HegelCan a conflict be the way forward?
Søren KierkegaardIs anxiety the dizziness of freedom?
Max StirnerDo you have ideas, or do they have you?
Martin HeideggerWhat does it mean to really be here?John’s been reading him again.
Henry David ThoreauHow little does a good life need?
Ralph Waldo EmersonWho would you be if you trusted yourself?
William JamesCan you choose what to believe?
Carl JungWhat have you been keeping in the shadow?We disagree about this.
Albert CamusCan you imagine Sisyphus happy?
Jean-Paul SartreAre you condemned to be free?
Simone de BeauvoirAre you born yourself, or do you become yourself?
GoetheWhat would you see if you kept looking?
Mae-Wan HoHow does a living thing stay in tune with itself?
Ray PeatWhat if tiredness is telling you something?
Ludwig WittgensteinCan you show the fly the way out of the bottle?
Iain McGilchristAre you seeing this, or just recognising it?
David HumeIs reason the servant of the passions?
MachiavelliIs it better to be loved or feared?
Albert SchweitzerWhat would it mean to revere all life?
A. N. WhiteheadWhat if the world is made of events, not things?
Erich FrommIs love something you fall into, or something you practise?
Wendell BerryWhat would it take to belong to a place?
Maurice Merleau-PontyDo you have a body, or are you one?
Fyodor DostoevskyIf everything is permitted, what holds you back?
Joanna MacyHow do you stay with the world’s grief without turning away?
Eugen FinkWhat if play is the most serious thing we do?
Gaston BachelardWhen did you last let your mind wander somewhere worth going?
Pierre Teilhard de ChardinIs the universe slowly waking up?Clients include people from
Why people come
It shows up in what you call success, what you expect from other people, what counts as evidence and what you think makes a life worth living. Most of it was picked up along the way.
People usually come to us when:
Have you ever really examined yours?
You don’t need to know which philosopher to read. Finding them is our job.
Two ways in
Individual Membership
Twelve months of philosophy with John and David. We get to know you, introduce you to thinkers and ideas, and explore what interests you, individually and alongside other members.
One fee covers it all, including any groups you join.
Organisational Partnership
They’re rarely written down, and they decide more than the strategy does. We work with organisations willing to examine theirs.
What builds up: a shared language, better disagreements, decisions you can explain.
How it starts
Three steps. The first two cost nothing.
A first conversation
Tell us what you’re interested in, or what brought you here. We’ll explain how we work and see whether we’d enjoy more time together.
Free, nothing to prepare
The Ground
Twenty minutes online with The Ground Beneath, then 90 minutes with both of us: what you take to be real, how you know, and what matters.
Both parts are complimentary
Your year begins
If we’d all like to continue, you become a member for twelve months. We agree a rhythm, and how individual and group conversations fit your year.
One fee, groups included
Annual membership
£12,950
What it’s actually like
You bring a predicament, an interest or a question. We introduce you to the thinkers and ideas that open it up. Turn a card over to see what they’d bring.
A predicament“I keep going round the same decision and can’t settle it.”
An interest“I keep noticing how differently my team sees the same thing.”
A question“Why does doing well feel so tiring?”
Some stretches are steady. Some are more intensive, around a decision or a change.
The curators
An applied philosopher and a chartered psychologist. Between us, decades spent on how people learn, think and judge.
Dr John Stoszkowski
Applied philosopher
Former senior lecturer, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and author of thirty-odd papers on how people think and learn.
Favourite objectNietzsche’s hammer
Dr David Priestley
Chartered psychologist
HCPC-registered. Decades inside elite football and rugby, global businesses and senior teams, and a long fascination with the philosophy underneath how people behave.
Favourite objectSchopenhauer’s porcupines
In their words
Why we started
We can find an answer to almost anything in seconds. We can generate reports, plans and explanations faster than anyone has time to read them.
But knowing more doesn’t necessarily tell us what matters.
Still open.
People have been asking this for thousands of years. Here’s some of the company you’d be in.
Epicurus341–270 BCWhat do you actually need, and what have you just got used to wanting?Henry David Thoreau1817–1862How much of your life are you trading for things you don’t really want?Aristotle384–322 BCWhat would someone with good judgement notice here that you’re missing?Ask it something else
We still have to decide what to believe, what deserves our attention and what kind of lives we want to lead. We still have to understand one another, question what we’ve inherited and make choices we can stand behind.
These are philosophical questions. People have been wrestling with them for thousands of years, and there’s an extraordinary amount to learn from those who came before us.
We think philosophy deserves a place in ordinary life. Something you make time for, come to enjoy and continue exploring for years.
That’s why we started Syntropise.
Two philosophers who get to know you, introduce you to unfamiliar ideas and help you develop a philosophy of your own.
Before you ring
The Cabinet holds thirty-seven thought experiments you can pick up and play with: a ship that loses its planks, a lion that roars at a dragon, a cave full of shadows. Some take thirty seconds. All of them come with homework.
Private viewings by appointment
Tell us what’s on your mind, or what you’ve been reading. The first conversation costs nothing, and you don’t need to prepare a thing.
Or write to hello@syntropise.com
Ask yourself
Your week with
Most people skip this. The ones who don’t are the ones it changes.
That’s the whole collection examined, every room. Now imagine doing this with your own life, for a year, with two people who come to know it well. That’s membership.
