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: 3, Disagree) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday September 27 2017, @07:47PM (2 children)
It's not the south that hates you. It's everyone outside the largest dozen or so cities.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 27 2017, @09:47PM (1 child)
It is amusing seeing you try so hard to get everyone to believe the sky is orange. You're a hate filled turd monger.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @12:48AM
Hillary lost. Ha ha ha.
Obviously, you are wrong and TMB is right.