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lved into nihilism he notices that students follow the path of least resistance when developing their values citation needed for students he writes values are not discovered by reason and it is fruitless to seek them to find the truth or the good life 12 ironically when traveling this path without reason bloom writes students still adopt strong poses and fanatic resolutions 12 bloom also criticizes his fellow philosophy professors especially those involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism for disregarding important humanizing ethical and political issues and failing to pique the interest of students 13 literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with these imperatives 14 verification needed to a great extent bloom s critique extends beyond the university to speak to what he characterizes as a general crisis in american society citation needed he draws analogies between the united states and the weimar republic 15 the modern liberal philosophy he says enshrined in the enlightenment thought of john locke that a just society could be based upon self interest alone coupled by the emergence of relativism in american thought had led to this crisis bloom cites friedrich nietzsche s actions of telling modern man that he was free falling in the abyss of nihilism 12 and continues to espouse nietzsche s commentary that nihilism in our contemporary democracy stems from value relativism for bloom this created a void in the souls of americans into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap citation needed bloom made the comparison to the brownshirts of the nazi party 16 17 who once similarly filled the gap created in german society by the weimar republic in the second instance he argued the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought had been eclipsed by a pseudo philosophy or an ideology of thought relativism was one feature of modern american liberal philosophy that had subverted the platonic socratic teaching the university edit bloom contends that the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success bloom argues that commercial pursuits have become more highly valued than love the philosophic quest for truth or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory in the university he discusses how the environment in elite institutions has cultivated mere ambition over the search for truth he says that proclaiming an affinity for reason does not alone define a university s worth as the statement alone does not constitute true commitment to scholastic pursuits in the name of a greater truth citation needed he contends that the mere announcement of the rule of reason does not create the conditions for the full exercise of rationality 18 universities serve as a reflection of the public and democracy at large citation needed because of this they are shaped by public opinion per alexis de tocqueville 19 public opinion serves as the final gatekeeper and the final headsman for any movements the university may actually try to implement to advance the pursuit of critical thinking bloom also explains what he believes is the dichotomy between the spirit of the university 20 verification needed and the university itself citation needed the philosophic life is not the university 21 he alludes to early philosophers from socrates who he firmly believes to be the essence of the university concept through the nineteenth century who he claims never made use of such institutions at all 21 bloom posits that maybe after all free thought and commitment to a greater truth need not exist within the metaphorical four walls of a university citation needed what matters instead he says what is uniquely human is the philosophic experience 22 bloom also notices a trend in which students notice the devaluing of free thought in universities he writes about students at cornell university that these students discerned that their teachers did not really believe that freedom of thought was necessarily a good and useful thing that they suspected that all this was ideology protecting the injustices of our system 23 bloom asserts that american professors in the sixties were not aware of what they no longer believed 23 and that this notion gravely endangered any capacity for progress towards free thought citation needed bloom insists that requiring from universities empty values like greater openness less rigidity and freedom from authority are only fashionable and do not have any substantive content 24 and in the face of growing civil rights conflicts universities have a duty to instead actively pursue the task of opening american minds it is not enough bloom contends for universities to not want trouble 20 verification needed it is not enough for universities to only hold reputation paramount in the face of campus disruption and only in name espouse free thought and truth this unfortunate mixture of cowardice and moralism 20 verification needed will unseat the spirit of the university bloom concludes by reminding readers that the love of wisdom and truth must be kept alive in universities particularly in this moment of world history publication edit the closing of the american mind was published in march 1987 25 five years after bloom published an essay in the national review 26 about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students citation needed with the encouragement of saul bellow his colleague at the university of chicago he expanded his thoughts into a book about a life i ve led 26 that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in american universities his friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success as did bloom who recognized his publisher s modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews citation needed including one by christopher lehmann haupt in the new york times 27 and an op ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator george will entitled a how to book for the independent 28 it became an unexpected best seller eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on the new york times non fiction best seller list for four months 29 reception edit the closing of the american mind was met with mixed reviews from scholars and the general public alike positive edit part of a series on conservatism in the united states schools compassionate fiscal fusion liberal libertarian movement nationalist christian neo paleo postliberal progressive social straussian traditionalist western principles american exceptionalism anti communism constitutionalism familialism family values federalism states rights judeo christian values law and order militarism peace through strength natalism anti abortion natural aristocracy natural law ordered liberty patriotism property rights republicanism right to bear arms rule of law supply side economics zionism christian history loyalists federalist era southern chivalry redeemers boston brahmins solid south new humanism dunning school southern agrarians old right conservative manifesto conservative coalition la folletteism america first committee mccarthyism goldwater campaign new right reagan era reagan doctrine reaganomics republican revolution tea party movement neo vs paleoconservatism agenda 47 intellectuals adams anton babbitt bacevich bell bellow bloom boorstin buckley burnham calhoun chambers conquest deneen eliot francis george genovese gottfried hanson hardin hazony himmelfarb hoppe huntington hurston jaffa kimball kirk russell kirkpatrick knight kristol laffer kuehnelt leddihn lind lovecraft loury lukacs mansfield meyer murray nisbet ransom rieff rushdoony santayana schaeffer sowell strauss vermeule viereck voegelin weaver wolfe politicians abbott adams bolton buchanan bush george h w bush george w calhoun clay cleveland cheney coolidge cruz desantis dirksen dole eisenhower gingrich goldwater graham hamilton harding helms hoover huckabee johnson kissinger lodge luce mccain mccarthy joseph mccarthy kevin mcconnell mckinley meese nixon palin paul rand paul ron pence quayle randolph reagan romney roosevelt theodore rubio rumsfeld ryan santorum sessions sherman taft robert taft william thune thurmond trump vance wolfowitz jurists alito barrett bork burger fuller gorsuch harlan ii kavanaugh kennedy o connor rehnquist roberts john scalia sutherland taft william thomas clarence commentators beck bongino breitbart brooks buckley caldwell carlson cass coulter crowder d souza derbyshire dreher douthat elder goldberg grant van den haag hannity hart herberg ingraham jones kelly knowles krauthammer lahren levin limbaugh mac donald neuhaus ngo north novak o reilly owens podhoretz pool possony prager robertson shapiro shlaes walsh watters weyl wheeler will wintrich woods activists abramoff agostinelli andreessen atwater bannon bennett bezmenov bozell cohn conway dobson falwell feulner flynn gabriel gaines hegseth horowitz kirk charlie krikorian kristol lahaye lindell lindbergh leo longwell mcentee mercer rebekah mercer robert miller murdoch musk political views o keefe peale park phillips posobiec powell raichik reed regnery roberts kevin rove rufo scaife schlafly andrew schlafly phyllis stone thiel thomas ginni weyrich wiles literature the federalist papers 1788 democracy in america 1835 1840 i ll take my stand 1930 the managerial revolution 1941 ideas have consequences 1948 god and man at yale 1951 witness 1952 the conservative mind 1953 the conscience of a conservative 1960 a choice not an echo 1964 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conservatism bibliography of us conservatism conservative talk radio list of american conservatives timeline of modern american conservatism conservatism portal united states portal v t e the art critic roger kimball wrote in the new york times that bloom s work should not be diminished publicly simply because it is not optimistic instead he writes the closing of the american mind is essential reading for anyone concerned with the state of liberal education in this society its pathos erudition and penetrating insight make it an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today s intellectual and moral climate 30 he concludes that mr bloom paints a sobering if not alas entirely unfamiliar picture o ne of the chief things to appreciate about the closing of the american mind is that its dominant stance is interrogative not prescriptive everything problematic that the term modernity implies all the doubts about the meaning of tradition the legitimacy of inherited values the point of pres...