Philosophy of Finance - Spring 2023

In 2022, Ammar assumed the role of Managing Director of the Philosophy of Finance Fellowship, a seminar series offered by the nonprofit where I served as Programs and Operations Manager at the time. It was in this context that I encountered Ammar’s skills as a thinker, speaker, conversationalist, and teacher first-hand.

Philosophy of finance is a relatively new, interdisciplinary endeavor—not a longstanding academic field with a canon of classic texts or traditional rubrics to turn to—so developing a syllabus from scratch on this topic was not exactly straightforward, but that was Ammar’s task for the Fellowship. The result was an impressively cohesive curriculum that wove together texts by a diverse range of scholars and practitioners, from medieval moral philosophers to contemporary economic theorists.

The curriculum alone reflected Ammar's careful research and gift for analytical thinking, which only became more evident in the classroom. He usually began seminars with brief opening remarks, concisely explaining the assigned readings, masterfully parsing complex ideas in accessible ways without sacrificing rigor. I was consistently impressed by Ammar’s clarity in these "lecture-style" portions of the seminars. In the conversational portions, his thoughtful questions stirred up fruitful discussion among the Fellows, often explicating connections between texts to shed light on their relevance and help students glean fresh insights. He was a great, flexible facilitator, often letting students take initiative to drive the discussion in the directions they found most valuable, but he would also refocus the conversation when needed, gently steering participants back towards the central questions being considered.

Students responded well to his approach in the Fellowship: discussions were lively, and Fellows came prepared and eager to participate. It came as no surprise to me when I learned that during the Fall 2022 semester, Ammar’s first semester as Managing Director, more unique individuals participated in the Philosophy of Finance Fellowship than in any prior semester. From curating texts for the curriculum to presenting clear, cogent arguments and facilitating discussions in the classroom, Ammar did fantastic work for the Philosophy of Finance Fellowship and the organization as a whole.

I took a class that Ammar taught over two college semesters, and I am happy to strongly endorse him. Ammar is a clear thinker, and an even clearer speaker. He is able to take dense concepts, extract useful nuggets, and pass that information on succinctly to others. He fosters participation, and is able to get feedback from all in the room, which he seamlessly incorporates into the greater discussion. Ammar is also very approachable and friendly. If you have the chance to learn from him, take it.

I took Philosophy of Finance (PoF) in the fall of 2022 at the recommendation of the previous program director, Dr. Mike Kane. Despite having taken over 40 college courses, I still yearned for an environment in my final semester that was devoid of all academic pressure and pretension, an environment where I could speak or listen as much as I wanted, and an environment where I could learn solely for the sake of learning.

Today, nine months after the seminar’s conclusion, I’ve realized that PoF not only served as the perfect capstone to my college career but more importantly, the high esteem in which I hold it today is a direct result of the efforts of Ammar Plumber, the program’s managing director.

The people that I respect the most are those that are able to achieve a certain level of eudaemonia or human flourishing. It was evident in Ammar’s preparation that he had achieved this. Each seminar evoked a communal response similar to that of David Swensen’s doing at an Investment Committee Meeting of the Yale Investments Office. You not only felt bad when you didn’t prepare for a discussion as adequately as Ammar. You felt you were cheating yourself. And yet, like Swensen, Ammar brought about this response not through arrogant projections of his thoughts on the group but an infectious love of learning that emanated from his thoughtful questions.

Thoughtful questions make for a strong interviewer but Ammar’s role also required an adroitness in conducting an audience. Ammar rose to the challenge, steering the group at the head of the table toward key concepts while tying tangential ideas from the readings and discussion together. Yet, his method was simple and effective - he led with a single, intentional question followed by a long pause, allowing the group to consider how the question should be addressed and then, to take the discussion as we pleased.

The thoughtful debate about which Ammar’s moderation style brought is something I greatly miss from my college experience and now, in my post-graduate life, it has made me actively seek out individuals and opportunities that allow me to discuss ideas, for the sake of philosophy and debate.

I joined PoF seminar in Fall of 2022. The seminar was about Finance and Philosophy. The content was always engaging, and sparked interesting debates among the students. The readings were an interesting mixture of complex ideas with modern economics, and sometimes creative literary texts. Furthermore, the suggested readings were conscientiously structured, stating the parts that were fundamental and those which were optional. In the classroom, Ammar showed domain of the content and involved the audience with relevant, deep and disputable questions. Furthermore, as the semester evolved, it became clear to me that he started to gain proficiency in steering the conversation along the main points of the readings, effectively introducing, presenting and concluding with the corresponding topic.

Due to his exceptional ability to structure and convey well thought and complex ideas in an outspoken manner, it is with pleasure that I would strongly recommend him as an educator to wherever he is applying to.

PoF was a space for those who were intellectually curious about the morality of finance and economics. Ammar was uniquely suited to structuring conversations that did not have a distinct black or white nature or a set trajectory.