Dissense

I write this inaugural essay in dissent and concurrence (a fitting posture for the recovering comparativist) with Felix York’s critique of a central “incongruity” in modern academia. Laying out this incongruity, Mr. York writes, “A field like English literature or intellectual history will, by its very nature, rely on original texts. At the same time, …

The classics can be a good introduction to fundamental topics.  However, those who have dissented with Mr. York ignore the opportunity cost of slogging through a sprawling work instead of looking to contemporary examples.
Because the classics have been drilled into us from an early age, we confuse their comfortable integration into our own lexicons with …

I applaud Mr. York’s spirited assertion that humanity’s quest to know what is true and false should have primacy over the desire to study history, but ultimately his conclusion appears to be based upon the same fallacy he seeks to condemn.  While York reveals the foolishness of studying great works in order to satisfy mere …

I agree with much of what York says, but I disagree with his main conclusion and many of the points he makes on his way to it.  He is right that history of its own sake is not worth all that much in philosophy and similar disciplines.  The ideas and arguments are what should matter …