Taki's Magazine has an interesting article on the decline of the humanities departments in universities. It seems to suggest that students aren't as interested in learning about the meaning of life as they are in making a living. This indicates to me that there is a disconnect between the intelligentsia in this country and the working class. Apparently the wise ones do not need to earn a living, or I guess they feel that people should appreciate their wisdom enough to supply their living for them. Just for being? And what does "being" mean again? I love the anecdote in the comments about Duke University hiring the best English Department in the country and then having them almost self-destruct the department because apparently great minds do not think alike.
Not that I think the humanities are unimportant. I do however have a fear that most people cannot earn a very good living with an advanced degree in them except as a professor or rarer, a popular author. They seem to me to be best studied as an undergraduate to enhance a continued path toward a law degree or political career or even a career in business. The humanities provide an opportunity to study people and life which can make a person more well-rounded, and they help people communicate better. There is value to a well-expressed view even if it is wrong, which brings me to NeoChalcedonian's quote on his philosophy blog,
Why study philosophy? To reach truth, of course. But when you consider for how many centuries philosophers have been pursuing the truth, and how widely they still differ, what are your chances of capturing that truth? Not high, one must agree. Is the study therefore wasted? Not at all. For if you pursue the truth seriously, and fail to get it, as you may, you come out with a mind invaluably honed and whetted, and that in itself is prize enough. (Brand Blanshard)
As this quote says, philosophy, and I would say even psychology, history, and literature, does not bring us to ultimate, contextualized truth. Critical thinking can help us recognize what isn't true, but only revelation will reveal what is. This is why I'm not so worked up against post-modernism. It is a reaction against misrepresented truth, imo. Not that they have the answers either, duh. My main objection is against the immorality and atheism among secular post-modernists. The truth of the meaning of life and the source of joy is in my view the Orthodox Church, which is barely represented in America's schools and universities. Without the proper balance you have guilt-and-shame, externally imposed morality, while maintaining a rationalistic, secular view of truth, or an anything-goes, undisciplined shallow, liberal, or given-up-on view of truth.
As I consider these things, so far we have chosen the moral, rational, with the naive premise of universal, self-evident, view of teaching truth for our son who's interested in the humanities, though he is going to focus more on a math degree until he can get into an Orthodox Seminary. With another son, we've chosen a technical university for engineering for his chosen career in that field. Our oldest son is pursuing an undergraduate business degree that I do not relate to at all, but I'm not going to dictate his path. Nevertheless, I hope someday that America will have more Orthodox options for lower and higher education.
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