Alan Bloom’s classic (title above) was published in 1984. It could easily have been published this morning with every bit as much relevance as it carried almost 40 years ago.

Bloom’s thesis is simple:

Think deeply. Think critically. And don’t allow others to do your thinking for you. Refuse to be intellectually bullied.

Saul Bellow’s Forward gets the ball rolling. He writes,

“To me, this is not the book of a professor, but that of a thinker.”

Translation: educational degrees do not always mean intelligence or wisdom.  You can be a degreed scholar, and still not be a thinker.

There was a time when students were taught not what to think, but how to think.

Don’t permit the media/social media/celebrities, etc., to cast their spell upon you, telling you to swallow whole their narrative.

Think deeply. Think critically.

Be fearless.

nw