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🎓 A milestone moment in the PhD journey…

Last term, I had the privilege of delivering my first presentation of my doctoral research at the Humanities Research Day at the University of Buckingham — and what a moment it was.

Presenting “Moderation and Memory: Rapin de Thoyras and the Making of English Party” felt like more than just an academic exercise. It was the first time my work stepped out into the world — tested, shared, and given voice beyond the page.

💭 To stand and articulate months (and years!) of thought — on party, moderation, and the strange, indeterminate nature of the English constitution — was both daunting and deeply rewarding.

Rapin asks us: if England is neither monarchy, aristocracy, nor democracy… what is it? And from that question emerges my broader argument — that political parties are not failures of the system, but necessary expressions of it.

📚 This presentation marked a turning point:

• From research to communication
• From private writing to public argument
• From uncertainty to a growing confidence in my work

Most of all, I felt incredibly proud — not just of the ideas themselves, but of reaching a stage where I could contribute meaningfully to the wider academic conversation.

Here’s to many more discussions, debates, and discoveries ahead.

#PhDLife #IntellectualHistory #UniversityOfBuckingham #HistoryOfIdeas #AcademicJourney

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💭 Can feeling and imagination preserve what reason alone cannot? In this episode, Jack Thomson explores the political vision of Edmund Burke and the enduring power of moral imagination.

Through Reflections on the Revolution in France, we trace Burke’s defence of order, tradition, and inherited wisdom — the idea that society is not constructed by abstract reason alone, but shaped by custom, sentiment, and historical continuity. This episode examines how Burke articulates a vision of politics grounded in prudence, prejudice (in its proper sense), and the accumulated experience of generations.

🎧 In this episode:

• Burke’s Reflections and the politics of moral imagination
• The defence of tradition against abstract rationalism
• Society as a living inheritance rather than a constructed system
• The moral and emotional foundations of political order

This is part of our Heritage Series, tracing the evolution of conservative and traditionalist thought — from Plato and Augustine of Hippo to Joseph de Maistre and beyond — exploring how ideas shape the foundations of Western civilisation.

📚 Hosted by the History of Ideas Reading Club (University of Buckingham)
🎙️ Produced by Beyond the Text: The Intellectual Historian’s Podcast
🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & all major platforms

#BeyondTheText #HeritageSeries #EdmundBurke #PoliticalPhilosophy #IntellectualHistory

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Step into the upheaval of the long nineteenth century in this History of Ideas Club recording 🎙️

“Industrialisation and Marx: The Making of Modern Society” explores a world transformed by unprecedented socio-economic change ⚙️. Breakthroughs in mechanical textiles, chemistry, iron production, and transport - most notably the steam engine 🚂 - drove rapid industrialisation, reshaping everyday life and pulling work out of the home and into expanding urban centres.

Cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Leeds became the beating heart of this new industrial world 🏭 - but not without profound social consequences.

At the centre of our discussion is Karl Marx, whose attempt to make sense of these transformations produced one of the most influential theories of history ever written 📚. Drawing on the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Marx reinterprets the dialectic as a material process - a history driven not by ideas alone, but by economic forces and class struggle ⚖️.

This was not a purely abstract concern. The realities of industrial life were captured vividly in literature, from Charles Dickens in England 🇬🇧 to Victor Hugo in France 🇫🇷, whose works echo many of Marx’s concerns about inequality, poverty, and social change.

In this session, we explore Marx’s theory of history in its original context - setting aside later interpretations to better understand what he was responding to, and what he was trying to explain 🔍.

This recording captures the spirit of the History of Ideas Club ⚡ - unpacking the intellectual and human consequences of industrialisation, and asking what it really meant to live through such a transformation.

Join us as we explore industrialisation and the making of modern society 🎧

#HistoryOfIdeas #Marx #IndustrialRevolution #Modernity