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What was it that one learned through a great books curriculum? Certainly not "conservatism" in any contemporary American sense of the term. We were not taught to become American patriots, or religious pietists, or to worship what Rudyard Kipling called "the Gods of the Market Place." We were not instructed in the evils of Marxism, or the glories of capitalism, or even the superiority of Western civilization.
As I think about it, I'm not sure we were taught anything at all. What we did was read books that raised serious questions about the human condition, and which invited us to attempt to ask serious questions of our own. Education, in this sense, wasn't a "teaching" with any fixed lesson. It was an exercise in interrogation.
To listen and understand; to question and disagree; to treat no proposition as sacred and no objection as impious; to be willing to entertain unpopular ideas and cultivate the habits of an open mind — this is what I was encouraged to do by my teachers at the University of Chicago.
It's what used to be called a liberal education.
The University of Chicago showed us something else: that every great idea is really just a spectacular disagreement with some other great idea.
Bret Stephens's speech warrants a full read. It makes valuable points that we all need to hear, even on SN.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 28 2017, @01:39AM (2 children)
The center holds - if you come in from far-left field, you'll see that the center is quite healthy.
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Thursday September 28 2017, @04:38AM (1 child)
So, Runaway, you do not know what an argumentum ad verecundiam is, eh? It is OK to just admit it. Not everyone can know Latin. Especially Polacks. And you owe us a new irony meter!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 28 2017, @02:25PM
Argument from authority. I looked it up. Since you ask, I don't read much Latin, at all. I never worked in a field where it was necessary to understand dead languages, so I didn't study them. In fact, I'm linguistically impaired - I can do alright in Spanish/Mexican and closely related languages - I can order a beer and ask about the hot women in any country that speaks Spanish.
Latin though, I only know what I found necessary to learn. You might look up 'inter utrosque polos tridens'. I realize you don't need to look up the interpretation, but go ahead, put it in a search engine. Hook us all up with a picture, alright?
Back to your point - What, exactly, is "wrong" with an argument from authority? Let's say, you're scheduled for brain surgery. And, you decide that you want to tell the doctor how she should decorate your head - you want the scars to fit into a really cool pattern, over which you can tattoo an awesome picture. And, she tells you "NO!" Argument from authority. Is that somehow "wrong"?
Verecundia - knowing one's place. It almost seems that you are accusing me of being out of place? Of not knowing my place? Hmmmm - you do realize that I am an American, right? My place is obviously wherever I decide it to be. Surely you aren't implying that the linguistically impaired should occupy a lower station in life than the linguistically gifted? I fail to see how that differes from keeping to your station in life if you're _____________ (black, female, Polack, retarded, genius, gay - pick any term to fill the blank)
But, back to that argument from authority - isn't that the same shit you're trying to pull? "I been mod-banned, and TMB is a horse's ass, and I GOT AUTHORITY ON MY SIDE!!"
And, no, I won't soon forget your dig at my ethnicity. At least I'm not Greek!!