This week on The Hope Axis, I’m very happy to welcome Alastair Benn, deputy editor of Engelsberg Ideas. In this conversation, we talk about Scottish identity and language, the challenges of writing clearly in a “post-literate” age, and the editorial philosophy behind Engelsberg Ideas.

We also discuss the idea of Bildung and Benn’s view of the editor as a mentor who helps writers turn strong ideas into clear, readable essays. Hope you enjoy.

For the full transcript of our conversation, click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IZLw1IkUsu5Q5A-AbAf_mAJZKCUAkQjd/view?usp=drive_link

Important Links:

X (Twitter) –https://x.com/alastair_benn

Engelsberg Ideas - https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/

LinkedIn – https://uk.linkedin.com/in/alastair-benn-0327b578

Bokforlaget Stolpe– https://bokforlagetstolpe.com/en/authors/alastair-benn/

Show Notes:

(0:00:00) Introduction

(0:00:58) Misunderstanding the Scots

(0:05:32) Linguistic Identity and Code-Switching

(0:10:24) Scotland Compared to Scandinavia

(0:13:02) Whisky, the Burning Bush, and Scottish Identity

(0:22:26) Engelsberg Ideas

(0:25:07) Plain Language, Complex Ideas

(0:31:12) Why the Written Word Still Matters

(0:37:25) Writing Essays like Montaigne

(0:42:39) Gatekeepers of the World of the Ideas

(0:48:35) Are We Becoming Post-Literate?

(0:56:47) What Is Bildung

(1:01:08) The Bildungsroman from Goethe to Thomas Mann

(1:10:31) Innerlichkeit and the Cult of Inwardness

(1:18:14) Hans Castorp and the Arid Cult of Productivity

(1:24:38) The Biases of the Hyper-Literate Elite

(1:27:10) Schopenhauer, Hegel, and the Problem of Jargon

(1:30:03) The Editor as a Mentor

(1:36:35) AI and Editing: What It Can and Cannot Do

(1:43:19) Closing Remarks

Books, Essays & References Mentioned:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thomas Mann — The Magic Mountain

Great Expectations — Charles Dickens

Arthur Schopenhauer

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Robert Louis Stevenson

Miguel de Cervantes — Don Quixote

Virgil — Aeneid

John Milton — Paradise Lost

You’re Not as Powerful as You Think (Seneca)

The Daily Stoic

Fortune Makes Equals of All

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