The Arts, How They Have Changed by Joseph Epstein

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/who-killed-liberal-arts_652007.html?nopager=1

It would be very easy to just disagree with this trumpeteer of the old guard. Claim that this one writer is out of date, that he implicitly rejects the positive changes to the liberal arts across universities in recent decades, and is unable to appreciate the full scope of pop-culture studies or anything that veers away from old white men of respected authority. Such rings the post-modern critique that sits inside us and pushes out these opinions; but standards are for many art undergrads quite low in what they produce and in the capacity to discuss what they are learning without single-line arguments of dogmatism. To assess a topic with complexity, with a good scope of readings and gathered multiple opinions, to enter weighty texts and comprehend their many meanings is in decline because it is contrary to examination culture and quick answers, which is not long thoughtful debate. Epstein is saying that change is not always for the good, it hasn't been for American arts, and in the American universities that cover his partial experience, the negatives have risen as the favour and reputation of the arts has declined.

The politicisation comment got my attention. In my area of Islamism studies and sociology, politicisation is heavy, palpable. The answers proposed partial and often simplistic, because the writers are adhering to the sub-discliplinary commands of political allegiances. In my drafts, when I have indicated how easily sociology reinforces one camp of argument only (that of external reasons for why Islamism has emerged), this has been marked as something that should not be included. A faux pas to note that common explanations of sociology, here are so limited.

Critique of the arts and social sciences is essential, especially when limitations on thought concerning a subject are easy to see. The arts should be robust enough to take critique, but now they are in decline and depth of analysis is so often lacking—and not just in under-grads. To write on this, is to walk on egg-shells. Epstein deserves credit for explaining what he has seen.

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To readers, I have apparently reached the mark of having over a hundred views. Early days, but it has been a pleasure. Cheers.