The School of Athens exists as a resource for those who wish to learn more about their minds, and to enhance the capabilities of their minds. To this end, the School provides workshops, books and consulting.

The School was established in 2024 by Jeremy Bray, its Founder and Principal.

Jeremy chose the name for the School to draw an association with Athens, the birthplace of rigorous thought, reasoning and inquiry in Western civilisation.

The Principal

The Principal of the School is Jeremy Bray.

Jeremy has qualifications in economics, public administration, actuarial studies and music. He has worked as an economist at the Australian Treasury, the Office of National Assessments, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions, and as the principal of his own private consultancy. He has also worked as a tutor in economics at the University of Sydney. He currently lectures in economics at the Kaplan Business School in Sydney.

Jeremy first became interested in the mind and rationality in his Honours year at Sydney, studying the work of psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. While working at the Office of National Assessments, he encountered Richards J. Heuer’s Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, and grappled with the problems of discerning truth and probable futures amidst uncertainty and deception – work that broadened his interest to include thought and reasoning.

Jeremy was spurred to pursue this research further, and eventually to found this School, by events with which he was professionally associated - the intelligence failures which led to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the failures of analysis and critical thinking which led to the financial crisis of 2008. With the aim of preventing such ‘mind made’ disasters from ever recurring, Jeremy provides education materials, workshops and consulting. The purpose of this work is to help people to deepen their acquaintance with their minds, and to make better use of their minds.

When not working, among other things Jeremy practices Aikido and meditation. He also facilitates the weekly Sensemaking Discussion at the Emergent Commons website. Jeremy lives in Sydney, Australia.

You are welcome to contact Jeremy via the contact form on this website, or via email at the address jeremy@hetsoa.com