The proposal by the Dartmouth administration last year to create freshmen dorms to stimulate intellectualism on campus was a valiant attempt in spite of its failure. I am not quite sure if the College ought to foster a more intellectual student body than it does now, for I discern a philosophical justification -- for instance, based on Zen -- in producing individuals who understand the virtue of balance. This concept is one that many intellectuals, who are most often rugged individualists, may find difficult to accept.
Nonetheless, having been vexed by the incessant pitiful cries of cynics like Mr. Hogins, as exemplified in his latest article "Dartmouth Anti-Intellectual Because Students Want it That Way" [Jan. 26], I devote my time today to explain what Dartmouth needs to make its students more intellectual. After all, as someone who feels compassion for his fellow students, I feel the need to enlighten those troubled souls, regardless of the level at which their reasoning might be operating.
There exist two types of intellectuals, knowledge-based and philosophy-based. The knowledge-based intellectuals are those who pursue intellectual dialogue, driven by their love for the learning of academic matters; a person genuinely interested in discussing mathematics without any utilitarian purpose is in this category. Those who pursue intellectual dialogue to enrich their philosophies are philosophy-based; this group includes, for example, a person who yearns to discover through communication the validity of Turgenev's nihilism or Sartre's existentialism.
One needs to understand that Dartmouth is almost incapable of producing knowledge-based intellectuals. From my encounters with a few of these individuals, I have concluded that the vast majority of them become attracted to academics early in their lives, certainly before their college years. As a result, most of them choose universities designed to encourage early specialized exploration, such as Harvard and MIT, over liberal arts schools, like Dartmouth. Occasionally, genuine academic interests can form in the minds of students during their undergraduate years, but as I have met next to zero of these late bloomers since I came to Hanover, I believe it is sound to reason that Dartmouth is unfortunately deprived of knowledge-based intellectuals.
On the other hand, Dartmouth can produce philosophy-based intellectuals because the College only needs to teach its students to question the meaning of their existence; all subjects, particularly the humanities, can impart this influence upon them. Once an impressionable youth becomes exposed to chaos theory, for example, he/she might be induced to question hard determinism, an antithetical conception that relies on complete order. Such examination then builds the fundamentals for an intellectual pursuit.
However, there is a problem with the above analysis of philosophy-based intellectuals because its conclusion contradicts the reality; although most Dartmouth students take numerous intellectually challenging courses, they seem to have a very little effect on the students' intellectual engagements. After all, is this not the reason the College administration proposed freshmen dorms? I believe the denouement to this predicament is extensive literary seminars.
The problem of deriving philosophies from the academic text is that it rarely involves personal experiences. Even if one understands the philosophical implications of Utopian socialism, he/she would find it difficult to use them to structure a sophisticated thought unless he/she establishes a personal link with the subject matter being studied. Literature overcomes this problem by providing the best collection of universal experiences, the manifestations of writers' suffering as they dealt with philosophical questions with which anyone can relate.
It is hard not to be moved by Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov," throughout which the author attempts to determine if religions are a necessity for humans, who he thinks are constantly seeking a unifying principle. And seminar classes, where students can engage in often passionate discussions, can stimulate their intellectual ambitions.
I propose, therefore, to institute year-long literary seminars for all first-year students. This should give Dartmouth students plenty of time to mature intellectually and elevate themselves to a more sophisticated level than where they are now. The administration thought that simply by bringing first years together, intellectualism would somehow be spawned. Obviously, no matter how many unintellectual youths come to one place, they cannot miraculously transform into an intellectual group. My proposal would alter the nature of Dartmouth student body at a grass-roots level, thereby yielding the results that many, including Mr. Hogins, seem to desire.
