Writing at Inside Higher Ed, Andrew Taggart proposes that intellectual life, or the pursuit of the life of the mind, does not have to always take place within the bounds of the college or university.
I have been thinking a great deal lately about the meaning of the phrase “public intellectual,” so I definitely found this piece thought-provoking. (I hope to write something on the topic soon). Read Taggart’s essay for yourself here, but I want to highlight a few things I found particularly interesting.
Taggart challenges the entire notion of “career.” He writes:
Thinking of one’s life in terms of a career used to make a lot of sense, but it no longer does. The main reason is that the economy has changed course dramatically with the result that the concept of a career is applicable to fewer and fewer cases. To be sure, it still applies to doctors and lawyers and perhaps to a few other professions. The economic trend, however, is moving toward a world of freelancing, with skilled workers cobbling together short-term projects here with long-term projects there. The Organizational Man, someone who exchanged loyalty for welfare, is giving way to the Freelancer, one who’s free to contract and whose value is measured almost exclusively in market terms.
If the trend I am describing is roughly correct, then it follows that the notion of a career will, for many people, soon be a thing of the past. We can mourn the loss of this life-structuring narrative, or we can ask how we might see this problem as an opportunity — in our case, as an opportunity for leading the life of the mind by some other means.
I think this is important. Many of us who counsel students and talk to their parents at prospective student days tend to still think in terms of careers. This is especially the case in the humanities. Parents and students want to know what their kids can do with a history major. Yet I think this is the wrong way of approaching this issue. Since it is unlikely that many college students today will actually have a “career,” we should be pitching the humanities as part of a bedrock liberal arts education that will prepare them for a host of opportunities. Now I know this does not directly relate to the focus of Taggart’s piece on public intellectuals, but there are some connections.
Taggart is a philosopher by training (although he doesn’t work in the academy). He writes:
According to the career view, the only way I can be a philosopher is to teach philosophy courses in the academy. Though I used to see things this way, I no longer do, and thankfully so. According to the kind of person view, I’ve come to regard my being a philosopher as expressed, for instance, in the mode of my being an educator which is, in turn, manifested in a number of educational consulting activities: I have begun looking further into alternative educational models (The School of Life in London, The Mycelium School in North Carolina, among others); I am a member of New Public Thinkers, a group of eclectic thinkers seeking to reinvigorate the public sphere; I am currently crafting a philosophy for kids curriculum; I have begun moderating Café Philo events and giving public talks in and around New York; I have taught senior citizens during the past couple summers; I write blogs about education, ethics, and philosophical counseling; and so on. Through all these activities, I am able to realize my being-an-educator in the world.
I have been trying to get my students to see this for a long time. In fact, I was just talking to a group of students yesterday about this. I told them that perhaps the highest calling of a history major (or a philosophy major or an English major, etc…) is NOT to go off and get a Ph.D and pursue a life of a college professor. Perhaps the highest calling is to work with the public in a place where one can apply the virtues of historical thinking about the world in a way that serves the public good or local community.
Finally, Taggart writes:
Leading such a life will require satisfying three basic criteria. First, it must be financially stable (once again, this rules out being a “Peripatetic” — see, here, “3 Models for Post-University Life”). Second, it must be morally virtuous. Third, it must be meaningful. And, fourth, it must create a sense of wholeness.
Amen. I have found all three of these things in the context of the academic community in which I am invested, but I am convinced that not all academics will find these things in university life.
Good stuff.
The last two posts couldn't be more timely. One of my classmates and I have spent a lot of time talking about the options available to us outside of the academy. It's hard to imagine a non-academic life when you're being groomed for one, but the truth is we are continuing to hone some extremely valuable skills that transcend college or university jobs.
I think there should be more emphasis on the benefits (no, the necessity) of historical thinking for policy decisions, urban/community planning, educational programs, etc.
Absolutely! We need to talk more about this in Greenwich.
I'm currently listening to Seth Godin's Linchpin on CD, and it addresses some of these ideas. I am only on the third cd, so I don't know what else he will have to say, but one thing that has stuck with me so far is the importance of a well rounded education in today's society/economy. You do not want to train for one job; instead, you should learn to think creatively and solve problems. This will help you become the linchpin of your organization or company. If you haven't read the book, it has been thought-provoking thus far.