Foreword by Robert McAfee Brown
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction: The Crisis in Humanities Education and Liberal Democracy: Three Views
1. The Conservative Discourse of Crisis in the 1980s
Introduction
Walter Jackson Bate
William Bennett
Lynne Cheney
The Educational Philosophy Shared by Bate, Bennett, and Cheney
Analysis: Allan Bloom's The Closing Of The American Mind (Part 1)
Analysis: Allan Bloom's The Closing Of The American Mind (Part 2)
Analysis: Allan Bloom's The Closing Of The American Mind (Part 3)
What Does Allan Bloom Want?
2. "What on Earth is Going on Here?" Some Responses to Allan Bloom's Discourse of Crisis
Martha Nussbaum
A Confirmation of Nussbaum's Critique: The Work of Kosuke Koyama
Richard Rorty
Benjamin Barber
Contemporary French Philosophy and Barber's Concept of Democracy: Some Common Themes
Stanley Aronowitz
A Critique of Technocratic Rationality
What Knowledge Is of Most Worth? The Multiplicity of Modern Consciousness
3. The Crisis of the Humanities: A Consequence of Pragmatism?
Introduction
Rorty's Revival of Pragmatism
Analysis: "Hermeneutics, General Studies, and Teaching"
Analysis: "Solidarity or Objectivity?"
Analysis: "The Priority of Democracy to Philosophy"
Analysis: Contingency, irony, and solidarity
Richard Rorty: Rebel or Metamorphosed Neoconservative? (A Comparison with Camus)
4. "What is the Difference that Makes a Difference Here?" Some Responces to Richard Rorty's Liberal Pragmatism
Introduction
Cornel West
Richard Bernstein
Nancy Fraser
Frank Lentricchia
Henry Giroux
Rorty and Camus on Human Nature and Utopia: A Contrast
5. Prophetic Pragmatism and Education for Creative Democracy
Introduction
Cornel West: The Prophetic Tradition
Analysis: Prophesy Deliverance!: "Sources and Tasks of Afro-American Critical Thought
Gramsci's Theory of Hegemony: Platonic and Prophetic Roots
West's Genealogy of Racism: A Confirmation of Gramsci's Theory
Cultural Hegemony and Humanities Education
What, Then, Is To Be Done? Prophetic Pragmatism, Traditions of Resistance, and Democracy
Education for Creative Democracy: A Possibility in Today's University?
6. Diversity, Equality, and Creative Democracy
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index