This volume brings together leading thinkers who offer reflections on the place of Western civilization in the academy, at a time when there is indifference or even antipathy toward the study of the West at most institutions of higher learning. Alternative narratives-including multiculturalism, diversity, and sustainability-have come to the fore in the stead of Western civilization. The present volume is designed to explore the roots, extent, and long-term consequences of this educational climate: How and why did undergraduate education turn its back on what was once an important component of its mission? To what extent has such change affected the experience of undergraduates and the ability of colleges to educate citizens of a constitutional republic? What are the likely individual and social outcomes of such a shift in educational priorities? The volume's theme is, and will continue to be, the subject of national scholarly and media attention.
This volume brings together leading thinkers who offer reflections on the place of Western civilization in the academy, at a time when there is indifference or even antipathy toward the study of the West at most institutions of higher learning. Alternative narratives-including multiculturalism, diversity, and sustainability-have come to the fore in the stead of Western civilization. The present volume is designed to explore the roots, extent, and long-term consequences of this educational climate: How and why did undergraduate education turn its back on what was once an important component of its mission? To what extent has such change affected the experience of undergraduates and the ability of colleges to educate citizens of a constitutional republic? What are the likely individual and social outcomes of such a shift in educational priorities? The volume's theme is, and will continue to be, the subject of national scholarly and media attention.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Reclaiming the Vanishing West
Bradley C. S. Watson
Part I: The Western Achievement
1.Abounding Anomalies: On the Fragility of the Western
Achievement
Steven H. Balch
2.The Rise of the Universities and the Revolution of the Middle
Ages
Toby Huff
3.One Civilization Among Many? Academic Reflections on the West and
the Rest
Daniel P. Mahoney
Part II: Western Civilization and Liberal Learning
4.Life Under Compulsion: Rejecting the Glorious Liberty of the
Children of God
Anthony Esolen
5.Learning to Be Free: The Connection between Liberal and Civic
Education
Patrick J. Deneen
6.Can Virtue be Taught? Western Civilization and Moral
Formation
Robert C. Koons
Part III: The Western Canon
7.Classics and Not Hog-Wash
Anthony O’Hear
8.Democracy’s Hope: Fanny Price in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park
Norma Thompson
About the Contributors
About the Editor
Bradley C. S. Watson is Philip M. McKenna professor of politics and co-director of the Center for Political and Economic Thought at Saint Vincent College.
This is a worthy collection of essays dealing with the crisis of
education, bearing on the teaching of the history of Western
civilization, and the significance of its resources for civic
learning today. The editor has done first-rate work in bringing
together insightful contributors who offer engaging and thoughtful
reflections on the important issues at stake. Dealing with
educational and civic issues of both urgency and consequence for
our world today, it is warmly recommended.
*William Desmond, David Cook Chair in Philosophy, Villanova
University; Thomas A.F. Kelly Visiting Chair in Philosophy,
Maynooth University, Ireland; and professor of philosophy emeritus,
Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven, Belgium*
In Western Civilization and the Academy, Bradley Watson assembles
an impressive and diverse array of voices to address the role that
higher education has played in the decline—and possible
revitalization—of what was once called with sincerity Western
civilization. This sparkling collection of essays will change the
way you think about the future.
*Michael P. Foley, Baylor University*
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