The closing of the american mind

Running Head : THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND

The Closing of the American Mind

[Student 's Name]

[University] The Closing of the American Mind

This is a commentary on the introduction of The Closing of the American Mind written by Allan Bloom . The entire reading showcases a cogent that stimulates the reader mainly through the reading 's character of being outrageous , clear , and realistic . Though the reading seems to be represented with some overstated words , this does not defeat the purpose of conveying a very informative and eye-opener perspective on

the value of education as well as the effect that it brings to the whole society chiefly on the way of the government

The introduction talks about the Virtue which is mainly directed towards the discussion and appreciation of the concept of openness Yet , Bloom suggests that there are two ways to interpret the concept of openness . The first one is the openness that motivates a person to be able to do philosophizing as well as to fulfill the interest of that person to learn . The other notion of openness is accountable for the closing which is more understood as the openness of indifference

The most notable example of the kind of openness which is characterized by the second sense of openness is the concept of cultural relativism This suggests that the primary education has given the person the chance to have grasped of the idea of relativism which is essential in the very idea of openness . The concept of relativism makes the person realize that what is right and what is wrong are not really definite or absolute . Their senses vary as how culture and traditions do . Thus , it is never right to impose what is right or what is wrong because in a way every one has his or her conception of what is right and what is wrong

One of the field of study in education that makes a person realize such kind of relativism and the very virtue of being open about it is the social sciences which constantly promote openness by overcoming one 's biases and prejudices (i .e . it teaches a person not to become ethnocentric . The same goes with the idea of superiority and inferiority in terms of races which leads to racial discrimination . The said idea of superiority was evident in the American history wherein there were so many conflicts between Blacks and Whites . Through the social sciences , students are taught not to think and act in such a way that they regard themselves as superiors to others

Bloom stresses out that it is only in the Western tradition that there is a little motivation and eagerness to distrust the recognition of the good by one 's personal means . Majority of the non-Western societies consider their culture and tradition to be better and greater than others . According to Bloom , such attitude is only natural as such is a direct opposite of the Western thought . He added that the very idea of obligating the students to study other cultures only implies criticizing and evaluating those cultures by means of comparing them with what their culture suggests which is obviously like asserting that their culture is more superior to others

In the entire introduction of the reading , it appears that Bloom is saying that at some point , we are really becoming so in tune of cultural relativism that we tend to neglect our rational capacity to think and reason out . We merely accept everything that are brought upon us by simply believing that culture makes us all different in almost every way . Yet , we are moving away from the fact that we need to examine and make a critical analysis of how our cultures become different in many ways

However , being open does not all about being lenient and being careless about our cultural differences . It is not suffice to say that because we have differences in terms of culture we can always understand each other 's misbehaviors or something else . By doing this , we neglect to recognize the truest problem about being so obsessed with our loose notion about openness thus making openness pointless . The bottom line of Bloom 's argumentation implies the idea of openness to closeness by which cultural relativism reigns and destroys our own conception of what is good , as well as the true good

In addition , Bloom says that by being so hooked with the principle of cultural relativism , we miss to consider that we are rational beings capable of discerning what is true and what is false , and what is right and what is wrong by means of reason . By being so open with the concept of relativism , it looks like it prevents us from expressing and airing our prejudices about something which is only natural as we can contemplate and make judgments based on how we analyze things . Our prejudices , in fact , make us inquire about the source and extent of such cultural differences

As what Plato discussed in the Republic , the truest essence of the concept of openness is the fact that man by nature cannot remain satisfied with what is presented to him by his culture (as how the Allegory of the Cave implies . Plato emphasizes that it is not the culture that justifies all that we know or believe but instead the nature which pushes us to go beyond what culture is showing us . Hence it is the nature that allows us to pass judgment on our own ways of living as well with others

To sum up everything that I apprehend to be the gist and the message of the reading , what Bloom is trying to say is that the idea of prejudice is important in such a way that it is essential in the learning process It is impossible that a person has no prior consideration or interpretation of something . Education then is the process of recognizing our various prejudices and inquiring on these prejudices to arrive at a genuine understanding of everything especially about cultural differences . Bloom argues that the current trend in our educational system is that it obstructs us from using our prejudices to move towards better understanding of things around us . The inquiry on our prejudices leads to the very idea of pursuing the truth - which is the true object of the human mind

Reference

Bloom , A (1988 . The Closing of the American Mind . Simon Schuster

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