Roosevelt Montás |The Liberal Arts: why they matter more than ever

What is the effect of reading a whole curriculum of ‘Great Books’? Can prolonged exposure to such texts radically alter the course of a life? Can they speak to people from all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds? In the sixth Ramsay Lecture for 2022, Columbia University academic, Dr Roosevelt Montás speaks with Ramsay Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines and evidences, from his own life-story, how the Great Books can lift people out of their circumstances and transform lives.
The personal transformation of Dr Montás is detailed in hi,s 2021 volume, Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed my Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation. In his book, Dr Montás describes how, as a poor immigrant schoolboy from the Dominican Republic with limited English, he made a chance discovery of ‘beautiful editions’ of Socrates and Shakespeare in the neighbourhood trash in Queens, New York. His determination to read these books, to understand their ‘compelling narratives’, saw him begin a journey of discovery that took him from his lowly neighbourhood high school to study at the prestigious Ivy League Columbia University, where he rose to.direct the University’s world-famous Core Curriculum.
In a wide-spanning conversation, Professor Haines and Dr Montás discuss:
• How four authors - Plato, Augustine, Freud, and Gandhi - had a profound impact on Montás’s life.
• The history of Columbia’s Core Curriculum as a democratising force, aimed at levelling the playing field between those who have access to cultural capital and those who do not.
• The peculiarity of a liberal arts education - the personal journey that differentiates it from a technical or professional education.
• The problematic absence of women writers in the Western canon, but why that should be a basis for learning and examination, not a reason to abandon the study of great works.
• How ancient texts should be read as contemporary works, relating to students’ current experiences.
• The intrinsic value of knowledge and the need for universities to offer students the opportunity to engage with their humanity, rather than simply be treated as customers, preparing for a vocation.
• Moral absolutism and the need for students to balance idealism with nuance and scepticism.
• Dr Montás’s mixed optimism for the future of the humanities.
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Thank you for this presentation of Prof Montás -- so impressive . University of Chicago also has a Core Curriculum program -- it's also a top university worth mentioning.