Relativism-Religion - Term Paper Example

In the modern America, most university students endure a level of intellectual frustration through his academic years. This book provides an understanding of the utility of ancient philosophy and is enriched with true knowledge of mankind’s existence. Bloom’s book portrays a critical view of the modern universities and their education system. Bloom says that the education system fails to stimulate the students as it cannot connect with their aspirations. He has essentially taken a pessimistic view of modern education system as cultivated by university professors.

Critics have assessed the book as an attempt to undermine all the liberal professors by conservatism. In reality, Bloom supported the theories of the old philosophers since he believed that they were the ones who searched for spiritual answers that are roots to man’s creation. He takes a critical view of the modern philosophers whose lucid analysis of language fails to explain the ethical and political aspects. The modern professors of literature take a skeptical view of truth and morality that are promoted by genuine philosophy, thus narrowing the intellects of students.

According to Bloom, only the study of ancient philosophy can make students comprehend the existence of mankind and get connected with the profundity of life. Bloom cannot be considered as a conservative; he simply wants the modern students to question about existence. In the contemporary world, students of all social and economic backgrounds are confined to the narrow view of life, thus getting more disconnected from the ancient thoughts. The minds of the American people are incapable of understanding the concepts of life and existence as they are instilled with distorted ideas.

Bloom stresses that the modern professors cannot understand life’s profound questions let alone finding answers to those questions. The ancient philosophies like Pluto and Socrates can act as guide for liberation of thought, but they are eclipsed by contemporary liberal philosophy. Bloom lists “reason-revelation, freedom-necessity, democracy-aristocracy, good-evil, body-soul, self-other, city-man, eternity-time, being-nothing” as polar opposites and says that “a serious life means being fully aware of the alternatives, thinking about them with all the intensity one brings to bear on life-and-death questions, in full recognition that every choice is a great risk with necessary consequences that are hard to bear.

” (Bloom, 1988, p.127) Bloom argues that modern education does not encourage students to confront these polarities, thus they remain ignorant of life’s choices of good and bad. Bloom’s attempt is to make students aware of the myriad concepts of mankind, and that they must deal with these ideas to lead a philosophical life. The major portion of this book focuses on portraying a contrasting view between the modern and ancient philosophies and mind-sets. It says that human beings today are more interested in pursuing commercial pleasures, and that the value of philosophical search for truth is being largely ignored.

In the book Beyond Good and Evil, the author Friedrich Nietzsche has stated that human beings are inquisitive in nature because of their thirst for truth. Nietzsche argues that the world is divided into opposite values, and the connection between the opposites is a complex philosophy. He says that human beings are so immersed in prejudices and false notions that whatever man considers as truth is actually a manifestation of his own falsehood. The conscious thinking of man is contrasted by his instinct, although Nietzsche believes that instinct is the source of information for conscious thinking.

He says that falsehood is the