I’d be a little bit concerned by this. I think there’s a growing sentiment among young people (especially on university campuses) that classicism is aesthetically: regressive, retrograde, old-white-man stuff. Here’s a quote from a recent New York Times piece:
“Long revered as the foundation of “Western civilization,” [classics] was trying to shed its self-imposed reputation as an elitist subject overwhelmingly taught and studied by white men. Recently the effort had gained a new sense of urgency: Classics had been embraced by the far right, whose members held up the ancient Greeks and Romans as the originators of so-called white culture. Marchers in Charlottesville, Va., carried flags bearing a symbol of the Roman state; online reactionaries adopted classical pseudonyms; the white-supremacist website Stormfront displayed an image of the Parthenon alongside the tagline “Every month is white history month.””
Edit: this is a criticism of classicism as a useful aesthetic, not of the enlightenment. Potentially they’re severable.
I actually wouldn’t know where to find a liberal student who respects classics (let alone “our cultural heritage”) at my large American university, after four years in the philosophy department!
One example is Liv Albert, who loves classical mythology enough to study it in university and create a podcast about it, but she’s also super progressive and critical of the ways in which classical myths perpetuated sexism in their day. I think her love for the classics shines through in her podcast. In her own words: “Liv is devoted to the world of Greek and Roman mythology, even if it is full of bloodshed and horrible men.”
I’d be a little bit concerned by this. I think there’s a growing sentiment among young people (especially on university campuses) that classicism is aesthetically: regressive, retrograde, old-white-man stuff. Here’s a quote from a recent New York Times piece:
“Long revered as the foundation of “Western civilization,” [classics] was trying to shed its self-imposed reputation as an elitist subject overwhelmingly taught and studied by white men. Recently the effort had gained a new sense of urgency: Classics had been embraced by the far right, whose members held up the ancient Greeks and Romans as the originators of so-called white culture. Marchers in Charlottesville, Va., carried flags bearing a symbol of the Roman state; online reactionaries adopted classical pseudonyms; the white-supremacist website Stormfront displayed an image of the Parthenon alongside the tagline “Every month is white history month.””
Edit: this is a criticism of classicism as a useful aesthetic, not of the enlightenment. Potentially they’re severable.
This is very much an online progressives thing, no? In America, the classics are our cultural heritage and carry a lot of respect.
I actually wouldn’t know where to find a liberal student who respects classics (let alone “our cultural heritage”) at my large American university, after four years in the philosophy department!
My comment referred to “America,” not liberal university students at top schools. I was making an explicit contrast to “online progressives.”
One example is Liv Albert, who loves classical mythology enough to study it in university and create a podcast about it, but she’s also super progressive and critical of the ways in which classical myths perpetuated sexism in their day. I think her love for the classics shines through in her podcast. In her own words: “Liv is devoted to the world of Greek and Roman mythology, even if it is full of bloodshed and horrible men.”