Leon MacLaren

Leon MacLaren, born Leonardo da Vinci MacLaren, (1910–1994) was a barrister, politician, philosopher and the founder of the School of Economic Science (SES). MacLaren was inspired by Henry George, Socrates, Dr Francis Roles, Pyotr Ouspensky, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and finally the philosophy of Advaita Vedānta through the Shankaracharyas of Jyoti Math.

MacLaren was born in Glasgow on 24 September 1910. He was the son of Andrew MacLaren, a Labour Member of Parliament who was a staunch advocate of Henry George.

Schooled at Rutlish School in Wimbledon, MacLaren later became attracted to the law and trained as a barrister.

MacLaren's influences include his father Andrew MacLaren, Henry George, Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky, Francis Roles and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. According to the Henry George Foundation, MacLaren joined the Henry George movement in London in 1931, serving on the executive committee from 1933 until 1937. At the 1936 International Conference of Georgist Organisations held in London, a contingent from the US presented a question-based method of teaching Henry George's ideas. MacLaren created a similar method and taught the course in London. In 1937 MacLaren left the Henry George movement and founded the School of Economic Science (SES) with the support of his father. In 1938 he was called to the bar and practised in Chambers at 2 Paper Buildings in the Inner Temple. Some sources say MacLaren's father founded the school, while others state it was Leon. According to the SES web site, MacLaren introduced and developed philosophy courses to complement his economics courses. Over time the philosophy courses became SES's principal area of teaching. According to the group's literature, from the mid-1960s onwards, MacLaren presented, in addition to some of the ideas of P. D. Ouspensky, the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, a philosophical theology of absolute non-duality as taught by the eighth-century Indian philosopher-theologian Śaṅkara.

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