“现代性危机”映射下的大学困境——从《闭塞的美国心灵》解读艾伦·布鲁姆的教育哲学

The Plight of University in the Crisis of Modernity: Allan Bloom's Philosophy of Education Reflected in The Closing of the American Mind

美国政治哲学家艾伦·布鲁姆的《闭塞的美国心灵》是一部从哲学角度反思现代大学危机的重要著作。理解布鲁姆的教育哲学,必须从他与施特劳斯学派的广泛联结中去分析其自由教育观形成的思想渊源。施特劳斯学派反对自由主义者或"左翼"学人对现代性危机的分析,主张从西方古典思想,特别是他所谓的"柏拉图—法拉比—迈蒙尼德政治哲学"来批判现代性。布鲁姆运用这种超越自由主义的视角来观察和反思自由教育面临的困境,在《闭塞的美国心灵》中深刻剖析了美国大学教育存在的危机。他断定,由德国相对价值论引发的美国虚无主义的泛滥是导致美国社会从"开放"走向"封闭"的真正思想根源。现代大学面临的这种危机突显了重整自由人文教育的紧迫性。他主张大学要充分认识伟大经典著作在大学教育中的地位和作用,必须主动承担组织通识课程的责任,积极倡导精英教育。

American political philosopher Allan Bloom＇s The （5loszng of the Amerzcan an important research book reflecting the crisis of American university education from the philosophical perspective. Its publication was seen as a miracle in the history of serious academic works in the 20th century. The author cites the proliferation of relativism and nihilism in American universities,analyzes the sources of crisis from the history of political philosophy based on the profound theories of Strauss School, and lastly proposes the way to restructure the liberal education in American universities. Although Chinese scholars have paid much more attention than before to the neo-conservative doctrine, the Strauss School and the American liberal education and have published papers, their research is not based on a comprehensive knowledge of the ideological origin of liberal education proposed by the Strauss School, which to some extentprevents them from thoroughly understanding Bloom＇s thoughts on liberal education. According to the Strauss School, the most significant contemporary problems are ＂the crisis of modernity＂ and ＂the crisis of Western civilization.＂ But they insist that if people want to comprehensively examine the crisis of modernity in the western society, they must deny both the modern liberalism and left-wing academic views, which are rooted in the tradition Of modernity, that is, having strong faith in modernity rather than antiquity, or even in the future rather than the present. Contemporary liberal scholars and their left counterparts are all ＂modern＂ or ＂progressive people＂ who criticize the modernity in the vein of the modern school. The Strauss School argue that a vision beyond the liberalism needs to be obtained, and they point out that the western classical thought must be just such a vision, especially the vision of what they called ＂the Plato- A1-Farabi- Maimonides＇ political philosophy. ＂Fully adhering to the Strauss School of thought and research style, Bloom often searched for inspiration from Socrates, Plato, Machiavelli, Rousseau and Kant, and made insightful academic observations of the U. S. academic community and higher education. The shift from the critique of modernity to that of modern higher education was indicated by the Strauss School, but was pushed forward and completed by Bloom in his book The Closing of the American Mind. The spread of modern crisis in higher education was the basic proposition of Bloom. relativism and nihilism lead to people＇s indifference to the history of natural rights and the origin of nation. They do not require the abandonment of old or new beliefs in order to retain the agreed natural rights. They worsen the crisis of faith, result in the widespread failure of the social contract,and create a new split. In all,it is producing spiritual closure and poverty in education. This crisis of modern universities highlights the necessity and urgency of liberal education. In Bloom＇s view,the core of humanistic education is to help students to explore the eternal theme ＂What is man to obtain a full and rich understanding of the world as a whole and to inspire students to continuously explore the answers to significant issues. By doing so, holistie and free persons will come into being. Bloom thus argues that universities need to fully understand the importance of the position and role of great classics, take the initiative in providing general education courses, and actively promote elite education.