Lehrman American Studies Center

Liberal education for Professor Eva T.H. Brann consists of "artfully superintended conversations . . . aided by great books." It provides Americans with an education that suits its political regime, a matching, according to Brann, that Aristotle would have recommended. Studying the classics and the American founding does "not aim at a return to the past but at its re-appropriation for the present."

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Is this statement true, false, or uncertain? Explain fully.

"Liberal education implies integration of knowledge. Professors of liberal learning must be well-integrated people. They should avoid narrow specialization in their own discipline: their aim should be to be conversant in many disciplines. Hence their work should always be interdisciplinary, crossing the artificial boundaries set up by modern academia."

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In An Education for our Time, Josiah Bunting suggests that the fictional Adams College ought to hire mentors especially based on "how the candidates have lived their own lives . . . " (210).

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Debating the character of national political structures—in this case Canadian.

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Concluding thoughts on the nature of true philosophy and authentic liberal arts at a Christian school.

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Whenever anybody asks what I do for a living, I tell them that I’m a professor of political economy. Invariably, the person who asked responds, “Wow! You certainly have a lot to talk about today!” Even my academic colleagues will say this to me if some event such as a large bank failure dominates the headlines. The underlying implication of this statement is that professors in my discipline deal primarily with “current events.” In other words, we explain what is reported in the newspapers or on cable news.

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In my last post I laid out some brief reflections on the sport of fly fishing and its relationship to Aristotelian natural law teaching. The reaction has been predictable among some of my close acquaintances. Evidently I have succeeded in living up to my reputation (undeserved!) for undue magniloquence. Well, I am sorry to report that I have more to say on the subject.

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Evaluating and revising a general education curriculum is much like a journey through the Land of Mordor on the way to Mount Doom. Few are one’s allies, many are one’s enemies, perils abound and there is darkness everywhere. I may perhaps write about allies and enemies alike at some other time. For now, I want to write about some of the perils and darkness that pervade the terrain.

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Reflections on Political History and National Identity.

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Most of the foregoing discussion in this series has focused on the nature of the good philosopher. Now it is time to examine more closely how the same principles can be applied to a Christian liberal arts institution.

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