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Cargando... Culture Counts: Faith and Feeling in a World Besiegedpor Roger Scruton
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. Roger Scruton’s book, I think, is slightly mistitled. The subtitle should probably read something like: “on the importance of education as a furtherance of cultural knowledge.” (Not as pretty and less likely to sell bools than “faith and feeling in a world besieged.”) This extended essay is an argument for the importance of educating students not just in academics or technical skills, but cultural education. And anyone involved in education knows that this is the minority position right now. Music and art programs have been long under attack, and literature courses focus as much on technical writing skills as they do on examining classic works. Even the mention of “great works” or “the canon” is likely to rouse the ire of many. We prefer John Grisham and JK Rowling. Scruton further makes things interesting by pointing out that while schools today focuses on “knowledge that” (facts) and “knowledge how” (technical skills). But what also needs to be remembered – what Scruton believes is the chief value of education in culture – is “knowledge what,” which means “knowledge of what to do, how to apply what I’ve learned, and what to feel in given situations.” (As a special educator dealing with students with social/emotional issues, I focused a lot on instruction on how to act and how to feel appropriately, but this was always a “special ed thing.”) The big criticism I have of Scruton is that he fails to make any compelling case as to why cultural education (education in classic works of literature, art, music) is the only way to achieve this “knowledge what” Yes, the great works of literature are often great because they express characters and dilemmas deeply and thoughtfully, giving the student a wonderful way to view these people and issues objectively. But just as George Eliot produced works that do this, so do contemporary authors like Wally Lamb, Jodi Picoult, and – yes – John Grisham. Scruton prefers the former authors, but doesn’t explain why the latter can not achieve the same things. (And Scruton’s case against pop music is even more ridiculous, reminding me of the used-to-be-hippie who, while listening to classic rock stations, wonders why they don’t make music like they used to. Scruton, like this poor hippie, doesn’t realize that classic rock stations play the hits that survived the test of time, rather than all the top 40 songs that didn’t.) While Scruton correctly notes that the proper end of education is not to give the students what they need, but to give the future at large what it needs. By educating students, we ensure that the ideas we impart on them find their way into the culture at large. Scruton, however, wrongly suggests that this idea is contra to John Dewey’s educational philosophy. While I am no fan of Dewey, this type of anti-individualism (educating as social engineering) is all to common in Dewey’s words. Scruton does score points, however, with his critique of postmodernism, relativism, and multiculturalism. He notes that relativism that seeks to “contextualize” reason fail to realize that this itself is using reason (and that reason is quite a universal method, rather than a contextual ideology). Abandoning reason (or compartmentalizing it) is bad pedagogy because it takes away our ability to teach kids one of the most crucial skills of all: how to judge and analyize. [If anyone needs to read a good argument in praise of judgment, see Theodore Dalrymple’s “In Praise of Prejudice.” and…judge…for yourself.) Overall, I thought that Scruton’s was a decent but somewhat short-falling defense of cultural education. As mentioned, he has many interesting pedagogical ideas, but none of them show that the “great works” can do what modern works cannot (except by very post-hoc arguments against all things modern). It will be of at least some interest to those concerned with the proper direction of education. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Renowned philosopher Roger Scruton defends Western culture against its internal critics and external enemies, and argues that rumours of its death are seriously exaggerated. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Inspirerend essay van een gerenommeerd filosoof
Scruton verdedigt 38;'de gemeenschappelijke zoektocht naar het juiste oordeel38;', zoals Eliot het noemde, tegen de laatdunkende aanvallen van de nieuwe academici. In een verrassende uiteenzetting over muziek en haar rol in de morele opvoeding neemt hij het op voor zowel de klassieke traditie als het Amerikaanse lied, en wijst hij op de schade die nieuwe vormen van popmuziek berokkenen aan de geest. Hij staat pal voor de traditionele architectuur en de figuratieve schilderkunst en haalt uit naar de modieuze relativisten. Hij pleit op een zeer dwingende en overtuigende manier voor onze beschaving, die meer dan ooit behoefte heeft aan de zelfkennis en het zelfvertrouwen die alleen de ware cultuur ons kan geven.
Recensie(s)
NBD|Biblion recensie
Scruton (1944), hoogleraar aan het Institute for the Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Virginia, is een bekende Engelse filosoof die reeds vele boeken op zijn naam heeft staan. Hij staat bekend als een conservatief, een reputatie die hij ook in dit boekje waarmaakt. Wijsgerig is hij beinvloed door de rooms-katholieke socioloog en filosoof Josef Pieper (1904-1997). In dit boek verzet hij zich tegen westerse denkers die de westerse cultuur relativeren en tegen de aanvallen van de radicale islam op de westerse cultuur. Scruton verstaat onder cultuur de cultuur van de traditionele westerse elite. Deze cultuur wordt belichaamd in de artistieke en filosofische tradities van het westen. Het onderwijs behoort niet 'modisch' te zijn, maar de 'hoge cultuur' door te geven aan de volgende generatie. Elke generatie behoort zich deze cultuur eigen te maken en erin te geloven. Scruton heeft met dit boek zijn, voor velen ongemakkelijke, opvatting nog eens stevig neergezet en daarmee een belangrijk boek geschreven. Met eindnoten en een register.
(NBD|Biblion recensie, Henk Hazenbosch)