Periagoge : liberal education in the modern university
Date
2010
Authors
von Heyking, John
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Southern Utah University Press
Abstract
Chapter contained in the book The Democratic Discourse of Liberal Education". One of the common criticisms of the contemporary university is that it lacks individuals unwilling or incapable even of conversing. Critics such as Anthony Kronman and Stephen Miller rightly observe that there’s something about contemporary culture and the contemporary university hostile to the arts or habits of conversation. Conversation has had a place in liberal education going back at least to the Platonic dialogue, if not back further, should one wish to see things this way, to the point in the evolution of bipeds that sat conversing so long that as apes, they lost their tails and became human beings.2 Conversation as the primary mode of liberal education is not meant to produce “results” but is an ongoing quest for understanding the human condition in all its manifold.
Description
Permission granted by Lee Trepanier
Keywords
Liberal education , Modern university , Learning and scholarship , Humanities--Study and teaching , Conversation
Citation
“Periagoge: Liberal Education in the Modern University,” in The Democratic Discourse of Liberal Education. Ed. Lee Trepanier. Cedar City, UT: Southern Utah University Press and the Grace A. Tanner Center, 2010. Pp. 160-187.