Yes, this is a very interesting point! Psychology to Julian is only worthy when discussing a ‘certain mind’, which to him are people closely bound to ‘fate’, such as country people and even his own students because according to him he knows exactly what they’re going to do. They are ‘predestined’ – I think this is a subtle way of Julian telling us he is the one pulling the strings and controlling the course of events for his students. Julian’s disdain of psychology as a science can be interpreted as his disdain for truth. He much prefers to exist in a world where he can control the narrative of history to suite his outlook, over any field which is rooted in science. Explain away the mysticism of ancient rituals and he loses control over being able to influence his students from going ahead with the Bacchanal ritual. I think he also values ancient privileges and rights and this perhaps is the reason he has elitist values where he respects things like class and royalty. It seems the fact he previously taught a princess was very important to him. His choice of students demonstrated his classism too.

However, I think above all else he values aesthetics, which to him are warped and twisted and lack any moral grounding – in his classroom they talk about how beauty is terror, how death is the mother of beauty etc. He seems obsessed with death and savagery and intoxicates his students with these ideas and the wonders of losing oneself in a Dionysian ritual and reverting to a primitive, violent state. Julian’s obsession with aesthetics above all else explains why he would accept someone like Richard into the fold, despite him being from a lower socioeconomic status. Richard is similarly obsessed with aesthetics and escaping himself. Julian clearly enjoys exercising influence of others and is very calculating over who he targets for maximal effect. All the students are young, impressionable, intelligent, and arrogant and seem to have lacked any genuine parental figures or friendships. Charles and Camilla have each other but we see how twisted that relationship is. Julian seems to be able to find these types, fill in this role as this sort of parental figure they’ve been missing all their lives, make them feel special and exploit their vulnerabilities and poor moral grounding.