Why we all should fall in love with the liberal arts

The 25 best bits from Robby George and Cornel West in conversation at AEI

Originally published on AEIdeas Dec. 1, 2016.

As part of AEI Grand Opening Week, Professors Robby George and Cornel West of Princeton University took to the stage in a thrilling, exacting, and soulful discussion of the health of liberal arts in America. The auditorium was standing room only to see the two dynamos in conversation, moderated by a former student of theirs, AEI’s own Ramesh Ponnuru.

Their approach to scholarship and their constructive, collaborative examination of what makes life worth living exemplify a competition of ideas under-girded by fundamental shared principles.

To tempt you to watch the talk in its entirety over on AEI’s YouTube Channel or on our Events page, here are some of the best soundbites (n.b., some may be paraphrased; anything revealed by the transcript as error, I apologize for as a result of hasty attempts to capture every single word. Bold is mine):

• “There’s a good reason ‘The examined life’ is the title of this talk, and the subtitle [What is the value of a liberal arts education?] is the subtitle. The title answers the question.” — George
• “It is not obvious to all that an examined life is worth living, because in an age that celebrates and valorizes wealth, power, prestige, influence, these things become the competition for leading an examined life. Why go after an examined life if it calls into question the devotion and time I spend on worldly goods?” — George

Let’s learn how to die together so we can learn how to live well together.

• “Philosophia, it is a meditation, a preparation to die… you must wrestle with a doctrine or dogma that may have to die… He or she who learns how to die unlearns slavery… Let’s learn how to die together so we can learn how to live well together.” — West
• We are in a “moment of spiritual blackout,” an “eclipse of integrity, honesty and decency.” — West
• “It came as a bit of a shock when I actually encountered the great teachers of mankind as an undergrad” and realized the “intrinsic value, not only instrumental, of engaging with these writers and thinkers,” a value “not reducible” to a job or impressing at a cocktail party. — George
• When visiting colleges around the country, “I find liberal arts relegated to the status of a service department, with the focus now [being] on skills — business, communications, computer sciences.” As a result, “a college’s own identity has had to shift to keep the doors open… This is a deep loss, and one we will not be satisfied to leave as a loss.” — George
• “All of us have a stake in the richness of the life led by all of us… That includes our intellectual well being.” — George
• “He who sees life as a Gold Rush worships the golden calf.” — West
• “Liberal arts” is “too abstract” a term, because we are really talking about the “enabling virtues.” — West
• “We [George and West] are proud to be part of Plato’s conversation even if we radically disagree with his conclusion.” — West
• The basis of the crisis in liberal arts education is “fundamentally a spiritual problem… I think the dominant goal these days is feeling good, having satisfaction. … What feels good is applause. It’s as addictive as a drug and to avoid that drug, you need spiritual strength.” — George
• “If the Medieval Era was the Age of Faith and the Enlightenment the Age of Reason, our age is the Age of Feeling. In our age, it’s feeling that’s the touchstone of goodness and justice.” — George
• “Feeling slips into the role of governor when faith and reason lose their authority… Spiritual blackout is when feeling reigns. If feeling is your fundamental goal, you have a deep spiritual problem.” — George
• “The examined life makes you feel bad … Seeking an examined life can be a dangerous thing.” — George
• “Beneath feeling is the threat of nihilism”, feeling being escape from the possibility of meaninglessness. — West
• “Nihilism is what you get when there is spiritual collapse.” — George

The key element of the liberal arts is self-mastery [which] doesn’t require a college education.

• “Part of the problem of spiritual blackout is not adequately prepared citizens. Deep education has to be widely available… [most] aren’t listening to Stephen Sondheim.” — West
• On religion and on West’s and George’s ability to collaborate through shared commitments, including as West put it, “sharing the cross”, George: “We know we answer to a power higher than the opinion of our students, public opinion, the opinion of party. These things are relativized by the demand of a higher power.”
• “The most abject form of slavery is slavery to one’s own wayward feelings and emotions… The key element of the liberal arts is self-mastery” and “Self-mastery doesn’t require a college education.” — George
• To which, West: The liberal arts is about “self-giving” because mastery and reason will only take you so far.
• “It’s important we support fellow human beings who are nihilists; they have a right to be wrong.” — West
• “Having dissent is like having oxygen; the poking and prodding is valuable even when the poking and prodding is to something that happens to be true. … It is one thing to understand something is true, it’s another to know why it is true.” — George
• “I’m a revolutionary Christian; where does that fit on the ideological spectrum?” — West

And finally (24 and 25):

Studying the liberal arts is like “getting on a train and not knowing who you are when you get off” (George).

To which, from West:

“But that’s like falling in love? Something’s going to die in you” and you’ll never be the same.