https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Closing_of_the_American_Mind
The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students is a 1987 book by the philosopher Allan Bloom, in which the author criticizes the "openness" of relativism, in academia and society in general, as leading paradoxically to the great "closing" referenced in the book's title. In Bloom's view, "openness" undermines critical thinking and eliminates the "point of view" that defines cultures. The book became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback.
Bloom critiques the contemporary American university and how he sees it is failing its students, criticizing modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Throughout the book, he attacks the "moral relativism" that he claims has taken over American universities for the barrier it constructs to the notions of truth, critical thinking, and genuine knowledge. Bloom claims that students in the 1980s have prioritized the immediate, blind relegation of prejudice as inferiority of thought, and therefore have "closed" their minds, as the title suggests, to asking the right questions, so that prejudice may be eradicated through logic and critical thinking, as opposed to empty, baseless instinct.[citation needed] Bloom writes, "Prejudices, strong prejudices, are visions about the way things are. ... Error is indeed our enemy, but it alone points to the truth and therefore deserves our respectful treatment. The mind that has no prejudices at the outset is empty."[3]
As a college student and later as professor in three colleges. I did not see the seeking of truth that Rosenbaum claims existed at the same time. People were looking for a degree to earn money.
Admittedly, some of my fascination with the topic is personal. The late Allan Bloom writes in The Closing of the American Mind (1987) about how earlier generations of students came to college with high expectations of a new world of ideas about to open up before them.
I know I did. And I was not disappointed. Not only did I love college, but I feel it provided me with a base for much of my subsequent life. My classmates and I came to college to learn, to be exposed to new ideas and perspectives.
Things are always better in the good old days
ReplyDeleteWasn't he the guy who was bashing YU in the 90s?
ReplyDeleteHis lens may be rose coloured but he's not wrong.
ReplyDeleteYou're certainly aware of the controversy a couple of years ago where a teaching assistant in Ontario showed her class a video of Jordan Peterson. Her intent was to then lecture on how wrong he was and why his views should be rejected but she never get that far. Multiple students had a meltdown. She was suspended and summoned to an inquisition by her superiors who compared what she'd done to showing a video of Hitler, y"sh, ranting. She was accused of approving of Peterson's views (oh no!) and traumatizing her students. The only thing that saved her was that she surreptitiously recorded the session and released it to the press, making her superior look like idiot.
This kind of thing didn't happen 50 years ago. Yes there were other things - probably not a lot of Blacks in Rosenblum's classes. Probably minimal other minorities and far less than 50% women. But you could venture opinions without a snowflake in the next desk having a meltdown.