Identifying Problems and Solutions

I’ve been staring at the blank page on my computer screen for at least a half hour, and I still am not sure what to write. I want to have a thorough, engaged response to MacIntyre, Readings, and Ibsen, and the ideas that have been put forward so far. But there’s something very difficult about engaging with so many different perspectives, so many different takes. Is a cohesive response possible? Worthwhile? Useful? What should I say, and why should I say it? And why do I think I should say it?

Several people here have chosen to respond only to Ibsen, others only to MacIntyre, or Readings. Some people have decided to talk about other things—the department meeting, McLeane’s University rankings, and the purpose of this class and these responses (which I’m personally still not sure of, to be honest).

I think I have maybe one worthwhile thing to add (though I’m not quite sure here how we’re defining ‘worthwhile’): is perhaps this class itself, and these responses, indicative of the larger problems of the humanities (read EFS) in the university? We might each know what we’re doing and thinking individually, but we don’t seem to know how to come to consensus (if we even want to come to consensus), how to broach a topic, how to be on the same page. What are we trying to ‘solve’ here? Or do we want a solution? What questions are we supposed to be asking? What are we doing, and how can we do it better? How do other people (those outside our institution) think we’re doing? Or is that a question we want to ask? Do we want consensus? Do we even know the problem?

I guess here is the point where I talk about at least one of the readings. MacIntyre, for instance, identifies the (a?) problem as: the exclusion of “substantive moral and theological enquiry” from today’s liberal university (226). He offers as the solution what he knows people might take as ‘utopian’: universities that situate themselves, take a stance, and then engage in (friendly?) combat. I’m not sure I agree with either the identification of the problem or the solution, but at least he’s expressing what he feels is the problem and offering some kind of a solution. And I suppose we can admire that, if we feel that is a valuable thing.