Excellent post. It gave me a lot to think about. So much so that I wrote about it at the link below. The image may have triggered my acrophobia! Your points forced me to organize my thoughts on the subject, an opportunity for which I am grateful.
I dont like the free solo analogy because group discussion is so important to my classroom experience, but I loved the culminating paragraphs. Thank you for sharing.
I really like the analogy to free climbing, but I get the impression that the historically great works are significantly less important to you than simply an abstract notion of the “important,” which can then be defined somewhat to suit oneself.
Would you say that it is necessary to actually read Plato and Boethius, or could those texts be replaced with, say, works of analytic philosophy that are very demanding?
Hanno Sauer publicly argued years ago for abolishing the reading of premodern philosophical texts—do you think along similar lines?
I totally agree with the benefits of a liberal education - but isn’t it that seeking one has to come from within and to be honest, most people aren’t interested in this sort of thing and will never get the point of it?
Excellent post. It gave me a lot to think about. So much so that I wrote about it at the link below. The image may have triggered my acrophobia! Your points forced me to organize my thoughts on the subject, an opportunity for which I am grateful.
https://humanepursuits.substack.com/p/the-skyscraper-and-the-valley-what
Love this, Oliver.
I dont like the free solo analogy because group discussion is so important to my classroom experience, but I loved the culminating paragraphs. Thank you for sharing.
I really like the analogy to free climbing, but I get the impression that the historically great works are significantly less important to you than simply an abstract notion of the “important,” which can then be defined somewhat to suit oneself.
Would you say that it is necessary to actually read Plato and Boethius, or could those texts be replaced with, say, works of analytic philosophy that are very demanding?
Hanno Sauer publicly argued years ago for abolishing the reading of premodern philosophical texts—do you think along similar lines?
I totally agree with the benefits of a liberal education - but isn’t it that seeking one has to come from within and to be honest, most people aren’t interested in this sort of thing and will never get the point of it?