Author: Kleiner

Associate Vice Provost and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Utah State University. I teach across the curriculum, but am most interested in continental philosophy, ancient and medieval philosophy as well as Catholic thought, all of which might be summed up as an interest in the ressourcement tradition (returning in order to make progress). I also enjoy spending time thinking about liberal education and its ends.

Liberal arts education and the challenges it faces — special lecture

For those interested in liberal arts education, its purposes and the challenges it faces:

Victor Ferrall, former president of Beloit College and author of Liberal Arts at the Brink, will present a special lecture tomorrow, Wednesday March 19, 11:30-12:45 in LIB 101.  Should be very interesting!

Announcement: PHIL special topics course for spring

I will be teaching a philosophy special topics course this spring (PHIL 4900 Special Topics: What is an Educated Person?), MWF 2:00-2:50.  This is a full course version of the CHASS reading group I have run the past few years.  The book order has just been submitted, so in  a day or two the course should show up on Banner for registration.

The class will investigate the purpose and value of liberal education.  Some questions to be considered: What is the end of liberal education?  How does liberal education differ from vocational education (job training)?  What is the place of books in education?  What underlying metaphysics of man, if any, is implied by liberal education?  Can a university be truly secular / metaphysically neutral, or must it make metaphysical commitments?  What challenges are facing the modern university, and what opportunities?

Texts / authors read: Gilgamesh, Plato, Aristotle, Newman, Hobbes, Descartes, Bacon, Dewey, Nussbaum, Lewis, and more!

No prerequisites required.  I expect that students will leave the class (a) having thought deeply about some interesting questions, (b) having developed a deeper understanding of the ends of education and (c) having developed the capacity to speak clearly and powerfully about the value of a liberal arts education.

“Want fries with that degree?”

All philosopher majors know the drill – you tell someone your major and immediately field “what are you going to do with that?” questions.  Well, tonight I encountered that bias in an unexpected place.  I was playing the game of Life with my daughters.  We were using a very old board, an original one actually, that was handed down from my mother-in-law.  If you win the game, you retire to millionaire’s estate.  If you lose.  Well, see how the board describes the losing bankruptcy option.  (By the way, my daughter beat me badly, despite her choosing not to go to college.  And many laughs were had at my expense by the 7 and 5 year olds at my fate.  Overall, a pretty serious fail if the game of Life was to be a vehicle for me teaching them my educational values.)

game of life