Philosophy teaches us to be more human and loving

In the Sept. 29 edition of The Record, it was announced that, under the terms of the Academic Prioritization Plan, it will likely soon be impossible to major in Philosophy here at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University. The Provost, Richard Ice, indicated that this discontinuation of the philosophy major was part of a broader push to “deliver the kind of education that we’ve been known to deliver, but in a different way.” This push finds its origin in the school “having too many programs that are very small” and is aimed at “continuing to be on the cutting edge and to be offering the kinds of programs that attract students.” Subsequent editorials in the Oct. 6 edition mourned the potential loss of programs and lauded the university for smart financial decisions.

Eliminating the philosophy major is surely the common sense choice. I mean, who cares about Aristotle, Kant or Nietzsche? Studying old dead guys (and they’re almost all old, dead and guys) has nothing to do with the modern world and the concerns of modern people, right? Thus, eliminating out of date, boring programs like philosophy and classics, is the sensible thing to do when confronted with the rapid pace of our society and its demands. Those old dead guys couldn’t possibly have anything worthwhile to say to us moderns. What’s the deal with that cave anyway?

These kinds of moves by university administrations across the country are nothing but short-sighted attempts to fight drops in enrollment. They are the “practical” solution to immediate problems, but in focusing on the practical and the immediate, there is a failure to see how these are instances of what Bernard Lonergan calls “general bias”—the preference of common-sense solutions over and against the methodical, thoughtful reflection that is required of the right judgement and good decision-making—i.e. the fruits of philosophical study. For Lonergan, philosophy is the “basic and total science of human living,” and it’s crucial that everyone gets an opportunity to engage in the basic exercise of coming to know oneself, for the Oracle at Delphi commands gnothi seauton (know thyself). That is, after all, the primary purpose of a liberal arts college like our own—liberation through education. Philosophy is not just critical thinking and good argumentation; it is freedom itself.

Prioritizing engineering, entrepreneurship and finance over philosophy and classics (they’re coming for you too!) is an overt instance of decline accelerating itself. For, as Lonergan points out, “a civilization in decline digs its own grave with a relentless consistency.” If the school is going to make short-sighted decisions that will only accelerate its own decline, we all might as well go down to the University of Minnesota and get cheaper degrees there.

At the end of the day, we all benefit from philosophy—the asking of questions about ourselves, others and the world around us—because it helps us to be more human and more loving. Our world could certainly use less short-sighted thinking rooted in the ironclad economic “laws” of supply and demand and more thoughtful responses, informed by love, that free us to be more ourselves than we were before.