The entire thesis of Allan Bloom [in Closing of the American Mind]is the crisis of the Enlightenment, and that since the USA is the embodiment of the enlightenment this crisis has come to a climax in the USA itself. The problems he outlined in various chapters were meant as illustrations of a deeper problem that one could not simply put a band-aid on. Nationalism in the USA is connected with the Constitution and its principles. So the drawback is that these principles must lead to a crisis by their very nature.
[Actually, I have not reviewed the book for some time. So I am writing from memory.]
But if memory serves correctly about the basic idea of the book then he also hinted to possible solutions.
He directed the book especially towards students of the university. Therefore there is something about education that he was thinking about that could provide the answer. Specifically education in Plato's Republic, the Hebrew Bible, Kant's three critiques and Hegel.
Plus drop the NY Times. Drop modern philosophy into the trash. Drop the Humanities and Social Studies departments in universities into the hell from which they emerged.
Bloom did not mentioned explicitly the Hebrew Bible, but he did say that his close relatives that had a background in it and the Oral Law had a much better and deeper understanding of the meaning of life than people that read the NY Times. He did mention learning the Republic of Plato in terms of a solution. [But I do not see that. The shorter dialogues I think are much more powerful.]
[Actually, I have not reviewed the book for some time. So I am writing from memory.]
But if memory serves correctly about the basic idea of the book then he also hinted to possible solutions.
He directed the book especially towards students of the university. Therefore there is something about education that he was thinking about that could provide the answer. Specifically education in Plato's Republic, the Hebrew Bible, Kant's three critiques and Hegel.
Plus drop the NY Times. Drop modern philosophy into the trash. Drop the Humanities and Social Studies departments in universities into the hell from which they emerged.
Bloom did not mentioned explicitly the Hebrew Bible, but he did say that his close relatives that had a background in it and the Oral Law had a much better and deeper understanding of the meaning of life than people that read the NY Times. He did mention learning the Republic of Plato in terms of a solution. [But I do not see that. The shorter dialogues I think are much more powerful.]
