Rescuing Socrates- Roosevelt Montás makes a deeply moving appeal for liberal education, that is, for the great ancient and modern classics within the Western tradition to be part of a college curriculum. The author draws on his own experience as a lad who came from the Dominican Republic to New York City and eventually earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Columbia University.
Roosevelt Montás has been an instructor in Columbia's Core Curriculum (Great Books Program) and describes how the Great Books changed his own life and can transform the lives of students, particularly students from lower income families and historically marginalized communities.
The author capsulizes his approach for the book as follows:“Rather than offer a battery of arguments, I try to bring the reader closer to the experience of liberal education through encounters with some of the human questions that lie at its heart.” And four authors serve as focus: Augustine, Plato, Freud and Gandhi.
For a more direct flavor of this provocative work published by Princeton University Press, I'll couple my comments with Roosevelt Montás' actual words -
“As a college freshman, my own religious experiences gave me an advantage, an entry point, into Augustine that others did not have. The power of his mind, the beauty of his language, and the depth of insight that pervades his writing captivated me.”
Roosevelt shares his background as a Christian in an austere Pentecostal religion from the Dominican Republic and how his faith shifted thanks to a warmhearted, charismatic leader who presented a vision of faith compatible with reason. So when he first encountered Augustine, he has a fund of direct experience that he could relate to the great thinker's philosophy.
“According to Socrates, the philosophical life is inseparable from this activity of self-scrutiny and involves open-ended and in-depth conversations with others. And this isn't just an activity for professional philosophers but the most important endeavor in any human life.”
One critical component in approaching a subject such as philosophy: inspiration. Roosevelt relates his own enthusiasm in discovering and reading the dialogues of Plato, especially the trial, imprisonment and death of Socrates (Apology, Crito, and Phaedo). As he comes to appreciate year after year after year, one of the wonderful things about teaching these Socratic dialogues is witnessing students undergo a kind of inner awakening. Reading this section of Roosevelt's book is a treat – anyone who imagines philosophy as a dry, turgid plodding through a tangle of logic will be pleasantly surprised and might even be inspired to launch their own exploration of Plato.
“In Freud's understanding, the mind is driven, and the conscious “I” is not the driver....According to Freud, unconscious material breaks through into the open on a regular basis, but always disguised and unrecognizable to the conscious mind for what it really is.”
In addition to his having carefully read many works by Sigmund Freud, Roosevelt has had his own personal experience in psychoanalysis. This first-hand acquaintance enriches the author's observations on various aspects of Freud's writings, such things as hysteria and dreams.
“Personally, Gandhi reawakened a deep sense of spirituality for me. Around the time I started reading him, I took up the practice of meditation and a meandering, unmethodical, but sustained exploration of Buddhism.”
In this section on Gandhi, the author underscores his view on the Columbia Core Curriculum regarding an important point: in today's global world, the Western tradition is essential but not sufficient - a student is well to have an acquaintance with authors and works from other traditions.
Time to tackle a tough subject head on. As Roosevelt says, “Liberal education has always been a hard sell.” Zeroing in on the US, here's the way things stand:
Money – College education nowadays costs a small fortune. Many students put themselves in serious debt, $30,000, $60,000, $100,000 or more for a college degree. Upon graduation, time to pay off those loans. Fortunate are those students with a degree in such things as engineering or accounting where they stand a chance to gain employment earning a decent salary. Reading the classics will undoubtedly contribute to broadening one's horizons and empower an individual to better contribute as a citizen but it doesn't easily translate into a paycheck.
Education for the Wealthy – Studying Plato, Aristotle, Montaigne and Tolstoy can be seen as elitist, what was once termed a “gentleman's education.” However, as Roosevelt explains, “One of the dangers facing American higher education – and American civic culture in general – is a return to a time when liberal education was the exclusive province of a social elite."
Fox Nation – It's 2021 and a huge percentage of the US population is aligned with the right wing. A liberal education in philosophy, literature and the arts is seen as the enemy. People in Fox Nation don't read books – they watch Fox. Can you imagine Joe Buck talking about Seneca or James Joyce?
Sports – I'm all for playing sports as a recreation but sports, especially professional sports, in the US has become an unhealthy obsession. If an entire population, including college students, can think of nothing but sports, what room is left for philosophic inquiry?
Internet as a Resource – To conclude on an optimistic note: Today, for those wishing to engage with the Great Books, many courses, lectures, podcasts and websites are available either free-of-charge or for a nominal fee: Coursera, The Great Courses, Peter Adamson's Philosophy Without Any Gaps, the list goes on. If someone wants to pursue a liberal education in our internet age, access to outstanding teachers, scholars and fellow students is only clicks away.
I'll let Roosevelt Montás have the last word. “The corona virus pandemic has exposed the depth of social inequality in America and may give our generation the necessary spur to address it. Making liberal education available and accessible to all students is the most important contribution that higher education can make to this effort.”
Roosevelt Montás, Philosopher, Academic Administrator and Teacher currently at Columbia University
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