THE QUALITY OF INTELLECTUAL DISCIPLINE IN AMERICA
In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 378, S. 75-82
ISSN: 0002-7162
4 of the 7 words in this title are controversial. The image of 'America' has become blurred both toward itself & in the eyes of the outside world. Educ on all levels is a barometer of this uncertainty. The term 'intellectual' often suffers from superficial equation of 'quality' in terms of burgeoning quantity. This is exemplified by heavy stress upon physical sci & technology at the cost of the arts & human sci's; by high-pressure promotions of educ'al computerization; by recent Amer philosophy (eg, logical empiricism); & by comparative weakening of alternative philosophies esp as they bear upon educ (eg, the classical & holistic organismic). 'Discipline,' in turn, is more frequently judged by rigorous standards of measurable mastery than by alternative meanings-meanings that include both Eastern philosophies of inner discipline & Western conceptions of soc discipline. The latter, in turn, points to modern processes of cooperative learning-teaching as well as to movements of student activism which, democratically understood, afford abundant resources for educ'al experience. Yet, granting certain advances, the grimmest of all problems remains unsolved: whether any such modes of 'intellectual' & 'discipline' are able to generate a 'quality' or moral ends sufficient not only for troubled 'America,' but for a whole world of unprecedented peril. HA.