Professors aiding intellectual decline

Breeze Perspectives

The decline of intellect has reached a new low in American cultural institutions. The rhetorical impulses of the day are sluggish, and universities play no small role in the transmission of these ideas. The corrosive agent known as modern liberalism has permeated the American intelligentsia, which is partially composed of university professors.

The university professor is one component of the American intellectual class. The role of a university professor is to traffic — at wholesale or retail — ideas, words and images. A professor is a second hand dealer in ideas whose function is intermediary in the spreading of academic concepts. Most professors are neither true scholars nor originators of scholastic principles. Furthermore, a professor can easily become alienated from social realities as he deals with abstractions and universal ideals rather than particular truth. As opposed to other professions, the intellectual class is especially prone to adopt the beliefs of secular humanism and the more pernicious intellectual offspring it has produced is exemplified in modern liberalism.

With regards to intellectual history, World War II and the Cold War put varieties of leftist thinking such as communism out of favor. Today, the American intelligentsia has turned to the softer and more eclectic socialism of modern liberalism. Because intellectuals can never accept the traditional view of human nature, socialism is the only available secular, utopian vision of our time. It is of great importance to note that the only differences between European socialism and modern liberalism are the mixture of societal elements that oppose the ideology. The principal objectives of the belief system have always been liberty and equality for mankind. However, the philosophy of liberalism in the 20th century took a drastic turn for the worse because its original principles were fused with a hedonistic mentality that is intolerant of traditional morals.

The ideological problems associated with modern liberalism are numerous. The twin thrusts of radical individualism and radical egalitarianism are the presumptive ambitions of the philosophy. The major premises necessary for moral reasoning include non-judgmentalism and nihilism. The origin of these intellectual misfortunes came from repudiated Enlightenment philosophy known as secular humanism, which was based on the idea that man could shape his future by reason alone. After the realization that secular humanism could not produce a justifying moral code, rationality was thrown out and modern liberalism took root. The correlation between this bad philosophy and declining American intellect is that our intelligentsia has embraced the socialist impulse found in modern liberalism.

From theory to pragmatic example, modern liberalism is a false interpretation of reality and human nature. Professors who advance progressive ideals should be held accountable for corrupting the moral foundation of students who are willing to accept personal biases as truth.

Peter Simpson is a junior Kinesiology major.