Appearing as a guest at the 2021 SDP Conference, historian David Starkey speaks about the rise of the professions, its connection to moralistic cultural liberalism, the right domain for ethics, and the experience of being “cancelled”.
Recorded on Saturday November 6th, 2021.
Excellent speech, from a brilliant mind.
Excellent speech from a brilliant mind.
Controlled hypertension I hope.
I thought at the time that the good Dr had set up a straw man in identifying historical professions with their modern managerially-infested media facing ‘representatives’ (at the “tops” of their professions). Professions have historically been services from the educated and able intended to help people with the problems thrown up by existence in civilisation, hence medicine attends to illness, teaching to ignorance, accountancy to taxation, law to government. His corollary of honest manual work does hold true however. The difference is that the professions exist for when things go wrong for someone. The profession of priesthood stands apart as it’s origins are political, though it did much to enable the education that gave us William Harvey, et al.. As the son of a GP and a teacher myself, my father and I have largely worked in helping with people’s and pupils’ ills and ignorance, toward their forward autonomy. I liked this speech – it should be revisited in any gentle professional’s mind daily just to check that we “first do no harm”. The elites are indeed sneering and arrogant – they mightn’t have become so if the subject discoursed on was remembered. Corruption has a grip, especially today – legislated moral authority is not the professions’ to dictate; rather true professions should counter such.