Abstract

Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind elicited a storm of critical discourse regarding the condition of higher education in the United States. This essay performs a retrospective evaluation of the rhetorical modes that animated that body of discourse, suggesting that the polemical responses offered by Bloom's detractors validate his claims about the contradictory ways that openness, tolerance, and diversity are pursued in the university. Revisiting this controversy provides an opportunity for considering the ethics of the academic polemic.

Journal
Pedagogy
Published
2009-10-01
DOI
10.1215/15314200-2009-007
Open Access
Closed
Topics

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Cites in this index (2)

  1. College English
  2. College English
Also cites 4 works outside this index ↓
  1. Fehn, Ann Clark. 1989. “Relativism, Feminism, and the `German Connection' in Allan Bloom's The Closing of the…
  2. Green, S. J. D. 1998. “The Closing of the American Mind, Revisited.” Antioch Review56: 371–82.
  3. Jendrysik, Mark S. 2002. “The Modern Jeremiad: Bloom, Bennett, and Bork on American Decline.” Journal of Popu…
  4. Strauss, Leo. [1959] 2004. “What Is Liberal Education?” Commencement address delivered at graduation exercise…
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