The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom
"The Closing of the American Mind" by Allan Bloom is a critical examination of higher education in America and its perceived failures in fostering a robust democratic ethos among students. Bloom presents a polemical argument that challenges the contemporary college experience, which he views as lacking in intellectual depth and engagement. He critiques the intellectual apathy of students and attributes this to broader cultural shifts, including relativism, which he believes undermines the pursuit of truth and meaningful discourse. The book is structured in three parts: an analysis of student life, a discussion on the nihilistic trends in American culture, and a reflection on the changes in universities during the 1960s. Bloom draws from classic philosophical texts to argue for the importance of a shared core curriculum that emphasizes enduring values. Published during a time of growing concern over educational standards, the book sparked debates about the nature of literacy and the role of education in society. Overall, it invites readers to consider the implications of educational practices on the character and intellect of future generations.
The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom
First published: 1987
Type of work: Cultural criticism
Form and Content
As its subtitle indicates, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students presents a provocative intellectual argument. Allan Bloom does not offer an overview of trends in higher education. His book is not a descriptive study; it is a polemic— that is, he takes a very strong position against what he sees as fundamental weaknesses in higher education. To buttress his arguments, Bloom relies on his own experience as a teacher at Cornell University and the University of Chicago, on certain classic texts in philosophy, and on his interpretation of current events.
The Closing of the American Mind has a foreword by Saul Bellow that is meant to define the kind of book Bloom has written. “This is not the book of a professor,” Bellow asserts, “but that of a thinker who is willing to take the risks more frequently taken by writers.” Professors, Bellow implies, tend to be cautious, to qualify their statements, and to refrain from sweeping generalizations. Writers, on the other hand, are boldly imaginative, trust their personal feelings, and make judgments on the basis of their own authority. The power of Bloom’s book, Bellow implies, lies in the fact that a professor, Allan Bloom, has forsaken the prudence usually associated with professorial writing and spoken out with a highly individual voice.
The Closing of the American Mind is divided into three parts. Part 1, “Students,” discusses the current state of college life, which Bloom deplores for its blandness and lack of intellectual rigor. In this part, the author explores the reasons for student apathy and ranges broadly among such topics as equality, race, sex, and love. Part 2, “Nihilism, American Style,” is more difficult. Here Bloom delves into the intellectual history that has shaped contemporary American culture. Readers not versed in the works of thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche will probably find Bloom’s frequent allusions difficult to follow. Part 3, “The University,” deals extensively with Bloom’s own experiences at Cornell during the student protests of the 1960’s. He condemns the changes that took place then in the culture and in the university. Here, his invocation of such authorities as Socrates and Martin Heidegger may also mystify readers who do not have a strong background in the history of Western philosophy.
Throughout The Closing of the American Mind, Bloom is at pains to demonstrate that Western philosophy has a body of work that ought to be drawn upon to reinvigorate American culture. He sees in these classic works enduring values that have been obscured by relativism, which suggests that one point of view is as good as another. Such relativism has made it impossible for students to confront what they really think. Higher education, as his subtitle suggests, has been at fault much more than the students. Indeed, he dedicates his book to his students and implies that the professorate bears a heavy burden of guilt for leading this college generation astray.
Critical Context
The Closing of the American Mind appeared at a time when several books were raising serious questions about American education. Like E. D. Hirsch’s Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know (1987), Bloom’s book suggests that American education has lost a common core of learning. At one time, these books argue, there was a shared concept of what it meant to be literate. Schools taught basically the same texts, and a student was graduated from college knowing roughly the same things as graduates from other colleges. Critics have attacked these books for exaggerating the degree to which Americans have ever shared the same college education, but many colleges have in fact reinstituted prescribed lists of classic works on the assumption that it is important to have a coherent curriculum.
The Closing of the American Mind is certainly not the first book by a professor to reach the best-seller list. In 1960, Paul Goodman’s Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized System (1960) also took American education to task— although his argument might be characterized as embodying the very relativism Bloom attacks. Goodman and Bloom are on the opposite sides of the political spectrum, but both of their books call for radical changes in American education. They both see education as the one institution capable of transforming society.
Bloom has translated and edited editions of Plato’s Republic and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emile: Ou, De l’education, (1762; Emilius and Sophia: Or, A New System of Education, 1762-1763). He is also the author of a book on William Shakespeare’s politics and a member of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. The Closing of the American Mind thus reflects both his scholarly and his teaching interests, which are wide-ranging and somewhat unorthodox. That he chose to address a broader audience in a provocative style suggests how urgent and important he now finds the problems confronting American education. His publisher, Simon and Schuster, was not prepared for the overwhelming success of this important book. Part of its appeal, surely, stems from Bloom’s willingness not simply to share his knowledge but indeed to present himself as an authority. Very few professors, as Bellow suggests, would dare to present their ideas with such absolute conviction or to choose a title that engages a subject as broad as “the American mind.”
Bibliography
Armour, Leslie. Review in Library Journal. CXII (May 1, 1987), p. 66.
Hillar, M. Review in The Humanist. XLVII (November/December, 1987), p. 44.
Kimball, Roger. Review in The New York Times Book Review. XCII (April 5, 1987), p. 7.
Kohn, Alfie. Review in Psychology Today. XXI (August, 1987), pp. 70-71.
Menand, Louis. Review in The New Republic. CXCVI (May 25, 1987), p. 38.
Minogue, Kenneth. Review in The Times Literary Supplement. July 24, 1987, p. 786.
Nussbaum, Martha. Review in The New York Review of Books. XXXIV (November 5, 1987), pp. 20-26.
Pattison, Robert. Review in The Nation. CCXLIV (May 30, 1987), p. 714.