What is a Liberal Arts Education Today?

May 19, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Dartmouth College’s Rockefeller Center at 1 Rockefeller Hall

Kenneth Minogue, Professor Emeritus of Political Science
London School of Economics

“Academic World and its Corruptions”

The academic tradition goes back to the Pre-Socratics of the fifth century BC in Greece.
It was given one institutional form by Plato and Aristotle, inspired the mediaeval universities
and in its present form is central to modern societies. What is it that distinguishes the work
of professors from that of doctors, lawyers and the many other professionals of which
the modern world is composed? What is its specific focus? What constitutes academic
integrity? And what are the corruptions that might threaten that integrity?

Timothy Fuller, Professor of Political Science Colorado College

“Anxieties in the World of Liberal Learning”

Recent works by Anthony Kronman (Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and
Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life), J. C. Sommerville (The
Decline of the Secular University), and Alasdair MacIntyre (Three Rival
Versions of Moral Inquiry), among others, pose questions about the
adequacy of contemporary colleges and universities to respond to the quest
for meaning among their students.  Such reflections lead to reexamination
of both the structure and content of higher education today.  Considering
their arguments in juxtaposition will help to clarify what we need to
think about in discharging our academic responsibilities.

Contact Information

Email: Daniel.Webster.Program@dartmouth.edu

Free and open to the Public