Jane Haddam

But just so you know I’m paying attention. The following: >>> “The purpose of a liberal education is to form free men… It also means that you have control of your actions, your passions, your tastes–that you can exercise self control in a world of almost infinite choice.” >>> is NOT a claim about the…

Let me get something straightened out here before I go on, because it may clear up some of the confusion: AB is quite right.  IF I was trying to suggest that there should be a national policy mandating a liberal education for all, or nearly all, THEN I would need to prove at least some…

Because, you know, it never fails. So we’ll go a little off to the side for a moment, and then tomorrow we’ll get back on track. 1) I have to prove none of the things Charlou says I have to prove, not least of which because I have made none of the claims Charlou says…

So, what can I say?  Sleep helped a little, yet again.  But I had a class to teach yesterday, and none of the students showed up. So I’m in something of a mood. If I were Sherlock Holmes, I’d surmise at this point that AB found his way to the blog from Facebook,  because he…

It’s remarkable what a decent night’s sleep can do for you.  Tea also helps. With any luck, this will be the final post in the “what we intend to teach in the liberal arts” part of this exercise. I say with any luck because, when I started on this project, I thought that part was…

And it’s not. Thursday is my worst day, Friday starts early and ends early–and I fall over. So I’m in no shape. But I thought I’d address a few things. First, Charlou wants to know why I’m writing this. Well, AB asked to know why studying the liberal arts was to any value to the…

So–yesterday was yesterday.  A super early morning.  Lots of stuff I didn’t want to do.  The week, unfolding ahead of me like a minefield. Okay, yesterday I was a little impatient.  And I apologize for that.  I do get impatient and exasperated sometimes.  I ought to behave myself. That said, I left literature to the…

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but the middle of my week is a complete,  unholy mess. But I’m here, and I’m going to philosophy (broadly conceived) and history.  Or, as I put it elsewhere–the history of events and the history of ideas. AB declares–as if it proved that there was no point in…

I have no idea if I have enough time to do t his now.  I’ve only got about an hour and a half before class, and although I write most blog posts sort of off the top of my head–okay, not quite, but that’s a long story– Anyway, an hour and a half seems a…

Okay, let me start here for the moment. The purpose of a liberal education is to form free men.  And women, of course, but when that formulation was first made–in the time of Socratic Greece–they were only talking about men. The “free” in this case means self-governing, both in the sense of being able to…