Joseph Epstein and Andrew Ferguson discuss the state of liberal arts education on Uncommon Knowledge

This week on Uncommon Knowledge, authors Joseph Epstein and Andrew Ferguson discuss where liberal arts came from and what has happened to them. Liberal arts, they say, emerged from an ancient stream of thought, learning, and belief about what is important in life, yet liberal arts degrees are not held in high regard today.

[@edgarmorgan6255]

I am most grateful for this conversation gentlemen. Here you have inspired more elements to consider in my Core 10 Senior Reflection Essay, a capstone essay to complete our years at Millsaps College. This is ancient and there is nothing about using that word ancient that makes it obsolete. The liberal arts is effective and it is important to have the critical understanding and unlimited curiosity in learning.

[@Sjester101]

To answer a question in this video, the humanities are important because they teach a philosophy of intellectual self-reliance. It is the sole means to combat what Herbert Hoover once referred to as the trend to collectivism. The lack of this philosophy leads to people who believe that the totality of their physical and intellectual capacity is not enough to survive and flourish in the modern world and therefore pushes them to relinquish their freedoms for the aid of a collective thought process. If a good background in humanities perishes from this earth then western civilization will follow it for the collectivism and authoritarianism of the eastern world.

[@alonkastiel92]

Jon Smith perfectly described. You are totally right.

[@hankroest6836]

17:20 What a fantastic anecdote!

[@system2thinker659]

Love the conversations, very smart and refreshing. Just remember kids, do what makes the most money and avoid those careers that only bring you pleasure. History is so foolish, I don't know why we study it, it would be much better if we forgot it once and for all and repeated the past at an accelerated rate. Communication studies is also a waste, it leaves me less time with my keyboard and TV remote. Who would major in art, lol, I'd rather see every building look like a solid cement block with no color than some fancy appealing design. Yup, it's much better to live and die for the money than it is to enjoy what you do...as I will write on my tombstone, "If I could do one thing over in life, I would have spent more time in the office."

[@aflapan]

Jason Ray As if people who study STEM don't enjoy what they do. Your opinion of other subjects is incredibly hollow.

[@welshriver]

The somewhat depressing thing is that no matter how much I love the liberal arts, I realize that at the end of the day, so many students are turning away from a serious engagement with them because institutions don't prize this. They prize more and more adjuncts and less and less passioned teachers. Information is prevailing but the knowledge is dwindling. What will happen to the liberal arts if so many great students realize that it doesn't lead anywhere in life? The Universities are cutting and cutting programs that foster thought. It is the economic reality that is affecting our values and tastes.

[@stephenmurray2851]

Information is prevailing but the knowledge is dwindling. Couldn't have said it better myself.

[@jkbrown5496]

Even they don't claim much of a yield to the student in the Liberal Arts to justify them at today's prices. All one really needs today is a habit of reading and to make an effort to find conversations online, both as chat or as recorded video.

[@PGHolmes]

"a society of perpetual adolescence" wow a stunning phrase

[@Paulsoriginals97]

His glasses are rad!

[@getmessed]

As it happens, I am currently reading that book. Trust me, you will like it! Greetings from Germany!

[@mmille10]

I've been recommending this book everywhere, but I think it's a good accompaniment to this interview, "The Closing of the American Mind," by Allan Bloom. I, too, have wondered about the generational hypothesis, that all America has to do is suffer the idiocies of the generation that's come to power, for now, but it will pass. The big question, I think, is whether the ignorance this generation is trying to impose will hold, or whether people will find it inadequate to satisfy their curiosity.

[@81048107]

Yes, excellent book. You also might like "Liberal Fascism" by Jonah Goldberg.

[@GrayWatchman]

mmille10, I agree Allen Bloom was brilliant and correct. BTW I think that the discussion about elitism (approx. 16 min. in) basically that elitism can or cannot be a form of snobbery is, to my mind an ivory tower paradigm. Elitism, especially Ivy League elitism is in my experience, almost always a form of snobbery.

[@Hypedhopes19]

Some people drive drunk, your order excellent books while intoxicated, not bad.

[@DWWEnganacious]

Start a new college endeavor "Conservative Arts".

[@GrayWatchman]

mmille10, I agree Allen Bloom was brilliant and correct.

[@adamsmith275]

21:00 ...and the working people are responsible for that professor failure... Even for the Hoover sect that is a bit low!... Well... I forgot that this a pulpit for the WSJ!... Enough said!...

[@MagnusCattus]

I think for now, homeschooling is probably the only option. Well homeschooling and reproducing more. IF you want your views to be propogated, YOU need to propogate them. (I hope I spelled that right). You need to sheild your children from the insanity of the world, while still allowing them to witness its madness, aswell as having as many offsprings as you can. White westerners seem to have been pulverised by multi-culturalism and feminism, into thinking heredity is no big deal.

[@adamsmith3413]

The academy euthanized the liberal arts. I received a hard science degree followed by a business degree leavened by the Jesuit tradition. I'm saddened by the current college scene.

[@adamsmith275]

...I couldn't help smiling at the pretentiousness of the host!... I am re-reading Allan Bloom The Closing of The American Mind (1987)... They should have brought their mandolins...

[@florian8599]

Doctor Jill Biden EdD is still a freaking Doctor, _Mister_ Epstein.

[@russedav5]

Unlike "conservatives" the Founding Fathers neither were afraid of nor refused to admit and confess that the Creator God of the Universe revealed in Jesus was their sole Foundation and hope without whom their fatal doom was sure, no matter the lies perpetuated by the deluded blindly pretending this was NOT founded as a Christian nation "city set upon a hill" beacon of Christ to the world, evidenced by the Great (Spiritual) Awakenings and great Christian missionary enterprises. Soli Deo gloria!