As my oldest daughter is but a year away from entering college, I have spent a fair amount of my inquisitive energy on the topic of late. And, frankly, I’m concerned.
The liberal arts are disappearing. If you don’t want to study the STEM subjects (i.e. science, technology, engineering, mathematics), or gender, or the history of under represented minorities, your choices are not abundant.
The history of our humanity is not being rewritten; it is being obliterated. To even acknowledge Jefferson, Milton, Moliere, Mozart, Plato, and Tolstoy, is, it seems, to endorse the negative side of humanity as now perceived. The duality of humanity, however, is what defines us. For every left there is a right; for every front there is a back. If we fail to acknowledge the duality it doesn’t go away. It is merely obscured. And that is the most dangerous condition of all.
I believe that we cannot train great scientists without exposing them to philosophy and literature. Science is not a body of knowledge. It is a methodology for interpreting reality. And that reality exists in context. It is all inter-connected in ways that we are only beginning to understand, which is why so many scientific “discoveries” are ultimately proven wrong.
Science deals with that which we can measure. The liberal arts deal with the context. One cannot be understood without the other.
Science, in effect, deals with what we can currently know. The liberal arts examine that which we do not or cannot. How can we know that the color we see is blue if we do not appreciate the full continuum of what might be called blue?
I also wonder what is the value of science if it does not serve to further our humanity? Does it really make sense to build robots that do not honor it? Isn’t that simply the first step to the de-humanization of who we are? And what benefit will that provide? Fulfillment? Purpose? Unlikely.
Identity politics and learning may provide some sense of connection, an important ingredient of personal fulfillment and purpose. It does not, however, fulfill our potential.
True diversity lies in the diversity of thought and worldview. If we do not arrive at our identity on our own terms, can we truly call it our personal identity? “I am me,” is the ultimate identity. My race, gender, sexual identity, etc., is important in terms of highlighting structural forms of discrimination. None of those attributes, however, defines the person I am, or, more importantly, the person I am capable of being.
I reject Chaucer’s worldview. I do not reject his humanity. I want my daughters to read Plato and to get inside the head of Jane Austen. Only then can they have a framework by which to calibrate what lies in their heads.
Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is ignorance. It is the duality of knowledge. Without it, however, knowledge can truly not exist. At that point we are not living; we are just getting by.
Contact: You may reach the author at gary@gmoreau.com
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A simple, practical guide to getting the most out of life without the orthodoxy of organized religion or the impersonization of political correctness and the “you must” movements.
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Understanding 