Reason & Rationality 2025 Summer Program
The program's core philosophy emphasizes that relationship and conversation are fundamental to intellectual growth, encouraging students to delve into complex ideas and develop critical thinking skills. By offering sessions at both Princeton & Swarthmore, students can experience diverse academic atmospheres.
This is a valuable opportunity for students seeking to expand their intellectual horizons and prepare for future academic endeavors. We encourage you to share this program with students who demonstrate a strong interest in the humanities and social sciences.
The Reason & Rationality 2025 Summer Program, held at Princeton Theological Seminary (June 8-14) and Swarthmore College (July 27 - Aug 2), offers an exceptional opportunity for intellectually curious high school students in grades 9-12.
This week-long program provides an immersive experience in Philosophy, Policy, and Economics through informal and engaging salons with a 5:1 student-instructor ratio, facilitated by graduate and undergraduate students from renowned universities like Princeton, Oxford, Michigan, and Purdue.
2025 Summer Program Overview
Session 1 (Princeton Theological Seminary June 8 - 14, 2025)
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The Value of a Human Life (cost benefit analysis, present value discounting, the significance of future generations)
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Utilitarianism and The Veil of Ignorance
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Basic Logic, Intellectual Virtues, Properties of Arguments
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Moral Realism and Moral Relativism
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The Trolley Problem
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Supply and Demand
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COVID Lockdowns and Ice Cream Cones (total and marginal utility, opportunity cost)
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Private Property and Prices
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Complex Systems, Emergent Properties, and the Mystery of Consciousness
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Norms Unlike our Own (primogeniture, bride price, dowries, indissoluble marriage, cousin marriage)
Session 2 (Swarthmore College July 27 - August 2, 2025)
11. Base Rates and the Base Rate Fallacy
12. Selection Bias, Social Desirability Bias
13. Preference Falsification and Self-Deception
14. Harry Frankfurt on Bullshit
15. Bayes’s Rule
16. Do You Live in a Simulation?
17. Rationality, Rationalism and Pascal’s Wager
18. The Conceptual Analysis of “Liberal” and “Conservative”
19. Science Fiction and Philosophy: Life Extension and Universal Basic Income
20. The Ethics of Selling Human Organs and Babies
Questions About the Reason & Rationality Vision for Conversation-Based Education?
Check out the frequently asked questions on our website or book a call to learn more.
Immediate Impact
James B Estes attended the original Reason & Rationality discussion series in 2023 as a participant and TA, later joining the team to co-found the Reason & Rationality Summer Program. Inspired by the class session on the Trolley Problem, James conducted empirical research into survey respondents’ intuitions about an important Trolley Problem variant. He then authored and published a peer reviewed article entitled Empirical Evidence Reveals the Motivation of Subjects Who Switch Tracks in the Trolley Loop Case.