Historien om vestens intellektuelle forfald (1987)

I think the diversity of these reviews and comments is a testament to the quality of Bloom’s work. Something that, had the book been emphasizing a bunch of thoughtless relativism (as opposed to thoughtful relativism), would have garnered a whole bunch of flat and homogenous reviews. The book had a section on race, yes. It also had a section on gender, students, the university, the crises of philosophy, and several others, all of which were critical and none of which were central to Bloom’s argument. In fact, the sole object of Bloom’s criticism was ultimately the tattered state of modern thought and the mockery it makes of our collective reality, Life.

The point of this book isn’t to tell you or anyone else what to think. The point of this book is to make you think.

In all honesty, I did debate giving this book less than 5 stars due to Bloom’s section on race and the surprising attention it seems to elicit from readers. However, beyond the section being one of the shortest, nowhere within it does Bloom allude to or even insinuate racist sentiment. Most of the focus appears to be a misinterpretation of Bloom’s addressing the use and abuse of statistical data that, despite being completely devoid of any cultural sensitivity or insight, was used to uproot existing communities (no doubt underserved communities, but Bloom’s concern is the university) on the expectation of immediate cultural assimilation and absolute conformism. Something that, had there been any serious thought to actual human beings – the culture of the black communities – may have elicited more insightful and impactful outcomes (insofar as Bloom saw it).

The book makes a plea for the revitalization of philosophy and a renewed meaning of human nature. All of this is under the expectation that the author should be taken seriously, but not absolutely. ( )

Worth reading in 2020 in Australia, as this has been the year that our federal government has stopped funding history and philosophy degrees in favour of more technical degrees it thinks will stimulate a post-covid economy. Bloom is sometimes errant in his attack on music and sex, but I feel reassured reading a man who sees reading great works of literature, history, and philosophy as integral to being properly educated. A quote from the book: "The professors of humanities are in an impossible situation and do
not believe in themselves or what they do. Like it or not, they are essentially involved with interpreting and transmitting old books, preserving
what we call tradition, in a democratic order where tradition is not
privileged. They are partisans of the leisured and beautiful in a place
where evident utility is the only passport. Their realm is the always and
the contemplative, in a setting that demands only the here and now and
the active. The justice in which they believe is egalitarian, and they are
the agents of the rare, the refined and the superior. By definition they are
out of it, and their democratic inclinations and guilt push them to be with
it. After all, what do Shakespeare and Milton have to do with solving our
problems? "

Allan Bloom has often been derided by those on the postmodern left, but this book is even more relevant in 2020 than it was when published in 1987.

Recommended by Victor L. Brown.

Bloom's observations, published in the late '80s, throw a light on the 21st century. Quoting Rousseau, who noted the complementarity of the sexes, which "mesh and set the machine of life in motion," Bloom builds a passionate case for liberal arts education. Throughout the book, he fights for the soul of America's youth, claiming "some men and women at the age of sixteen have nothing more to learn about the erotic. They are adult in the sense that they will no longer change very much. They may be competent specialists, but they are flat-souled." ( )

Notes in book