A distinguished political philosopher with years of experience teaching in undergraduate liberal arts programs, Anderson shows how the ideal of practical reason can reconcile academia’s research aims with public expectations for universities: the preparation of citizens, the training of professionals, the communication of a cultural inheritance. It is not good enough, he contends, to simply say that the university should stick to the great books of the classic tradition, or to denounce this tradition and declare that all important questions are a matter of personal or cultural choice. By applying the methods of practical reason, instead, teachers and students will think critically about the essential purposes of any human activity and the underlying arguments of any text.
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"Charles Anderson has provided an excellent new starting point for public discussion of the contemporary university. He asks all the right questions. No university president, provost, or dean should be allowed to hold office until she or he has passed an examination on this book."-Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame -- Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame
"I like Charles W. Anderson. I like his book. . . . My first inclination, on reading a few pages, was to invite him to dinner and conversations that would, I am certain, run far into the night. Why? In a mere 160 pages Anderson trenchantly probes the present state of 'the university' and then proposes to draw from its own logic and present activity (not from some idealized model) a 'prescription' for the recovery of its health. . . . The university must have principles and standards-principles and standards, he argues, that are really there in its history and operation but which require contemporary rethinking and reapplication."-Henry C. Johnson, Jr., Review of Politics -- Henry C. Johnson, Jr.,Review of Politics
"Political scientist Anderson provides, in this slim volume, a reasoned argument for the liberal arts and for the link between liberal education and what he calls 'practical reason.' He criticizes the modern American university for giving up its time-honored responsibility to provide a thoughtful, coherent, and well-articulated education to undergraduates, and argues that if the university is to prosper, it must return to a variation of its roots and provide a thoughtful liberal education. . . . Students, he asserts, should be taught to think and to reason, and that the university is neither a 'trade school' nor a repository of what is 'currently popular' in intellectual life."-Choice -- Choice
"I like Charles W. Anderson. I like his book. . . . My first inclination, on reading a few pages, was to invite him to dinner and conversations that would, I am certain, run far into the night. Why? In a mere 160 pages Anderson trenchantly probes the present state of 'the university' and then proposes to draw from its own logic and present activity (not from some idealized model) a 'prescription' for the recovery of its health. . . . The university must have principles and standards-principles and standards, he argues, that are really there in its history and operation but which require contemporary rethinking and reapplication."-Henry C. Johnson, Jr., Review of Politics -- Henry C. Johnson, Jr.,Review of Politics
"Political scientist Anderson provides, in this slim volume, a reasoned argument for the liberal arts and for the link between liberal education and what he calls 'practical reason.' He criticizes the modern American university for giving up its time-honored responsibility to provide a thoughtful, coherent, and well-articulated education to undergraduates, and argues that if the university is to prosper, it must return to a variation of its roots and provide a thoughtful liberal education. . . . Students, he asserts, should be taught to think and to reason, and that the university is neither a 'trade school' nor a repository of what is 'currently popular' in intellectual life."-Choice -- Choice
About the Author
Charles W. Anderson is the Glenn B. and Cleone Orr Hawkins Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His earlier books published by the University of Wisconsin Press are The Political Economy of Modern Spain and The Political Economy of Mexico, co-authored by William P. Glade, Jr.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good introduction to the philosophy of higher education,
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This review is from: Prescribing the Life of the Mind: An Essay on the Purpose of the University, the Aims of Liberal Education, the Competence of Citizens, and the Cultivation of Practical Reason (Paperback)
I bought this book with the intention of getting a better understandingof the general philosophy of higher education: the book did not dissapoint me. This is not however a deep and rigorous philosophical study of higher education, rather it should be seen I think as a quick and terrif way of getting a better overview of the field - what are the major tradeoffs as far as educational ambitions are concerned? - what can and ought universities teach? - who should decide these questions?, etc. etc. It should also be pointed out that the book is not historical, if you want a better grasp of how things actually evolved and why, Frederick Rudolph's classic is probably where to go. As for the writing, it is elegant and easily accesible through out the book, which makes it a pleassure to read. In summary, if you are new to the field of philosophy of higher education , this book will definitely get you off in the right direction.
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