wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Anne from Midtown September 10, 2007 - 12:19PM

  While I can't say I spent much of my college experience (at Yale coincidentally) thinking about the meaning of life, I did feel I was able to explore ideas in a way that wasn't directed towards more than being a thoughtful, informed and worldly person. Today, almost ten years later, I spend a significant amount of time pondering the meaning of life, and I find that my studies (in history, religion, economics, art) all inform the way I see the world and my place in it. But I find that the intervening years also help me figure out my core understanding of what my life means as much as my education.

  
  
• [2] eligit from astoria September 10, 2007 - 12:22PM

  education is based on the study of subjects in which there is verifiable research and information or to which a logical path can be followed to gather data on the subject at hand. the reason the subjects the author is so interested in are left to religious organizations...is that that is where it belongs.

  "what is the meaning of life?" "what is beyond the stars" are pretty nebulous and almost irrelevant to academic study since they are essentially unanswerable.

  the study of the history of these kinds of topics (ie the evolution of philosophy etc) is interesting and suitable for study as is the study of the human brain and psychology.

  so i can understand why some of this speaker's colleges might be a little annoyed with his perspective.

  
  
• [3] Trevor from LIC September 10, 2007 - 12:25PM

  The meaning of life? Look no further than Robert Howard:

  "Smash your enemies...have them thrown before you, and hear the lamentation of the women".

  --Conan

  
  
• [4] Joshua from NY September 10, 2007 - 12:29PM

  I wonder if your guest might comment on the influence of the late Richard Rorty, who, while deeply invested in the philisophical tradition of, among others, the American pragmatists, essentially advocated for an end to traditional studies of philosophy in favor of, to generalize, a more relativist teaching of philosophy through comparative literature.

  
  
• [5] Anne Fernald from Jersey City September 10, 2007 - 12:34PM

  I'm always simultaneously attracted to and irritated by books like this one.

  I think that it's noble, important, interesting, and worthwhile to read--and to encourage/force students to read the classics.

  However, as a feminist academic who works hard to include multiple perspectives in my classroom, I take issue with the continuing chronological approach favored by programs like Yale's D.S. or Columbia. A chronological approach perforce confines the voices of women, the working class, and nonwhites, to quite late in the freshman year and this only reinforces the impression that eloquence, importance, and big ideas are, from the beginning, the provenance of European men. I know all the arguments about why we shouldn't be so focused on identity. I just think that impressions matter and including women's voices in the fall would make the curriculum a lot stronger and would encourage sharper and more engaged critical thinking.

  I wish that such programs would address big, interesting questions by juxtaposing Plato with Douglass, Woolf, Fanon, & Arendt from September.

  Anne Fernald

  (Yale PhD; Asst. Prof. @ Fordham, English Dept.)

  
  
• [6] Trevor from LIC September 10, 2007 - 12:37PM

  I condone Kronman's suggestions in collegiate education if for nothing else to mitigate the rampant materialism and sense of entitlement so many young people have today. Religions and churches do not have the mandate on the subject of the meaning of life; students should be introduced to these issues at college-age simply because their employers (corporations, governments) certainly WON'T be encouraging existential questions.

  There may be not an answer to the meaning of life, but to use that as an excuse not to attempt an understanding is disingenous and constitutes intellectual cowardice.

  
  
• [7] Michael from New York, NY September 10, 2007 - 01:55PM

  Certainly, there is something to be said for a classical education. But I remember that when I started college we were shown a list of what incoming freshmen were expected to know -- Latin, Greek, a foreign language, rhetoric, mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc. I doubt that many Ph.D's today have that same training. Is it possible that the rudiments of classical education are missing throughout the school system and not just at the college level?

  
  
• [8] John from New Jersey September 10, 2007 - 02:09PM

  Can't say i was in much of a position to ponder the meaning of life that early in my own existence. It takes a lot of living to even begin to connect the dots.

  As I get older (46), seems i have to continually rerun the past, putting into perspective all the formative, and even mundane, past events of my life to see how what i have learned changes the way i see the past and where it is all going. With every new thing learned, it is important for me to look back and re-evaluate how it all fits together. I think it is a personal journey and while school can teach a lot, I have to do this all on my own. It is the mission of life in general.

  
  
• [9] Leon Freilich from Park Slope September 14, 2007 - 12:29PM

  RELEVANT SHALLOW THOUGHT

  Behold the eyes,

  Behold the smirk,

  Behold the lies,

  Behold the jerk.