What is Liberal Education For?
A Conference at
St. John’s College on the 50 th Anniversary
of the Santa Fe Campus
(Please review times and locations the week of the conference, as some may be changed. All plenary
sessions are in the Great Hall. The Steiner Lecture on Friday evening is open to the public and will
be held at 8:00 p.m. in the Student Activities Center.)
Thursday, October 16
10:00 a.m.: Registration Opens
11:45 – 1:00 p.m.: Lunch (advance registration required)
Concurrent Panels: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
1. Reading Plato: Socratic Education (Great Hall)
Michael Ivins, (SF ’97), St. Vincent College, Department of Philosophy
On the Silence of Socrates in the Cleitophon
Theodore Hadzi-Antich Jr., (AN '04), Austin Community College,
Department of Government
Nakedness in Plato’s Republic
Shane Gassaway, (SF ’06), Tulane University, Department of Philosophy
The Subtle Vindication of Philosophy in Plato’s Lovers
Chair -- Dustin Peone, Emory University, Department of Philosophy
Moderator – David Levy, (A ’03), St. John’s College
2. Liberal Arts and Aesthetics (Junior Common Room)
Derek Duplessie, (SF ’11), Tulane University, Department of Philosophy
The Reformation of Philosophy and the Cultivation of Taste: An Interpretation of
Hume’s Essays
Jennifer Donnelly, (A ’96), The Terra Foundation for American Art and the
Université Paris 7
A Visual Trivium: The Case for Studying Art in the Digital Age
Chair – Elizabeth Engel, St. John’s College
Moderator – David Carl, Director of the Graduate Institute, St. John’s College,
Santa Fe
3. Liberal Education: Changing Conversations (Senior Common Room)
Rob Goodman, Columbia University, Department of Political Science
Metaphor and Innovation: A (Reluctantly) Instrumental Case for the Liberal Arts
Kathleen Longwaters, (SFGI ’07, EC ’09), University of Texas at Austin,
Department of Asian Studies
In the Middle of a Conversation: Reflections on Ortega y Gasset's "The Misery and
Splendor of Translation"
Barbara McClay, (A ‘12), Associate Editor, Hedgehog Review
Liberal Education in a Specialized Age
Chair -- Susann Bradford, (SF ’89), University of Montana, Department of
Applied Arts and Sciences
Moderator – Jan Arsenault, (SF ’82), Assistant Dean, St. John’s College, Santa
Fe
2:30 – 2:45 p.m.: Break.
Concurrent Panels: 2:45 - 4:15 p.m.
4. Reading Plato: Socratic Dialogue (Junior Common Room)
Jeffrey Lehman, Hillsdale College, Department of Education
Socratic Conversation and the Making of Philosophers in Plato’s Meno, Phaedrus
and Phaedo
David Shiner, Shimer College
Piety, Knowledge, and Critical Inquiry in Plato’s Euthyphro and Apology
Chair – Matthew Davis, (A ’82), St. John’s College
Moderator – Richard McCombs, St. John’s College
5. Liberal Education in American Law and Politics (Great Hall)
Charles Claunch, (SFGI ’04, EC ’05), University of Dallas, Politics Department
Education of the Regime and the Soul in The Federalist
Austin Walker, University of Chicago, Committee on Social Thought
The Limits of Liberty: Tocqueville, Newman, and Authority in Liberal Education
Thomas Berry, (SF ’13), Stanford Law School
Liberal Arts and the Law: Beyond Analogy
Chair – John Balkcom, (SFGI ’00), Former President, St. John’s College
Moderator – Grant Franks, (A ’77), St. John’s College
6. Philosophic Views on Liberal Education and Discourse (Senior Common Room)
Gabrielle Stanton, (AGI ’14), Tulane University, Department of Philosophy
A Kantian Argument for Liberal Education
Carolyn Thomas, (SFGI ’02), University of New Mexico, Department of Philosophy
Heidegger’s Contributions on Liberal Education
Patrick Nielsen, (SF ’04), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Liberal Education as Pharmakon: Plato and Derrida’s Dialectic on Learning
Chair – Llyd Wells, St. John’s College
7. Underpinnings of an Education in the Classics (Meem Library, Ault Evers Room)
Michael Platt, George Wythe University, Department of Philosophy,
Statesmanship, and Literature
Liberal Education, Don Rags, and Our Republic of Liberty
Dan Maher, Assumption College, Department of Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy in College: the Effectual Truth
Chair – John Cornell, St. John’s College
Moderator – David McDonald, (SF ’95), St. John’s College
4:30 - 6:00 p.m.: Plenary Session A:
Welcome (Michael P. Peters, President, St. John’s College, Santa Fe)
Christopher Ricks:
“T.S. Eliot’s Humanism”, (Introduction by T. Andrew Kingston, St. John’s College)
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.: Opening Reception (advance registration required)
Friday, October 17th
8:00 - 8:45 a.m.: Light Breakfast (advance registration required)
Concurrent Panels: 8:45 - 10:15 a.m.
8. Liberal Education and American Democracy (Great Hall)
John Agresto, Former President, St. John’s College, Santa Fe
Do the Liberal Arts Today Serve Any Useful Public Function?
Wilfred McClay, (A ’73), University of Oklahoma, Department of History and
Classics
Why the Case for Liberal Arts is Stronger than Ever
Daniel Cullen, Rhodes College, Department of Political Science
Liberal Education In, For, and Against Liberal Democracy
Chair – Charlotte Thomas, Mercer University, Philosophy Department
Moderator – Lise van Boxel, St. John’s College
9. Religious Texts within the Liberal Arts (Senior Common Room)
Brian Kelly, Thomas Aquinas College, Dean
Reading the Scriptures in a Catholic Great Books Program
Christopher Denny, (A ’93), St. John’s University, Department of Theology and
Religious Studies
From Doubt and Decline Towards Dialogue: Discussing Anselm’s Proslogium in the
Religiously Pluralist Classroom
Julie Park, Saint Mary’s College of California, The Collegiate Seminar
Homer’s Polytheism
Chair – Thomas J. Slakey, Tutor Emeritus and Former Dean, St. John’s College
Moderator – Michael Wolfe, (SF ’94), St. John’s College
10. Poets as Humanists (Meem Library, Ault Evers Room)
Andy Davis, Belmont University, Department of Philosophy
Learning and Suffering in Euripides’ Electra
Steven Baker, (SFGI ’09)Columbia University, Department of Italian
Fame and the Solitary Life: Rethinking the Liberal Arts through the Paradoxes of
Petrarchan Humanisim
Kelsey Bennett, (SF ’00), Western State Colorado University, Department of
English
The Periodic Appeal of Friedrich Hölderlin
Chair – Edward Walpin, St. John’s College
Moderator – Alan Zeitlin, St. John’s College
11. Education as the Cultivation of Freedom: Kant Revisited (Meem Library,
202/203)
Paul Wilford, (A ’07), Tulane University, Department of Philosophy
The Ethical Community and the Cultivation of Virtue in Kant’s Rational Religion
Samuel Stoner, Carthage College, Western Heritage Program
Uniting Freedom and Lawfulness: Kant on the Power and Limits of Aesthetic
Education
Chair – Jay Smith, (SF ’77), St. John’s College
Moderator – Jacques Duvoisin, (A ’80), St. John’s College
12. Liberal Arts and the Sciences within the Conventional University Curriculum
(Junior Common Room)
Chair -- William Donahue, (A ’67), Director of Laboratories, St. John’s College,
Santa Fe
The Last Liberal Art: the Importance of Including the Natural Sciences
Geoffrey Henebry, (SF ’82), South Dakota State University, Geospatial Sciences
Center of Excellence
Liberal Education as Preparation for Interdisciplinary Science
Lisa Hicks and Elizabeth Coggeshall, Stanford University, Structured Liberal
Education
Low-Tech Studies in a High-Tech World: Teaching the Great Books in Silicon Valley
Michael Bolin, Wyoming Catholic College, Department of Philosophy
Liberal Education and STEM Education
Moderator – Eric Poppele, (SF ’89), St. John’s College
10:15 - 10:45 a.m.: Break and coffee.
10:45 - 12:00 p.m.: Plenary Session B: Wendy Lesser:
“Good Books and Bad Books: Developing One’s Reading Taste”
(Introduction by Guillermo Bleichmar, St. John’s College)
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.: Lunch (advance registration required)
(next plenary begins at 12:25 p.m.)
12:25 – 1:25 p.m.: Plenary Session C: Andrew Delbanco:
“Does Liberal Education Have a Future?”
(Introduction by J. Walter Sterling, (A '93) Dean, St. John’s College, Santa Fe)
Concurrent Panels: 1:45 – 3:15 p.m.
13. Beyond the Western Canon (Junior Common Room)
Shih Yu “Franklyn” Wu, Dharma Realm Buddhist University
Liberal Education in the Broad Buddhist Traditions -- Visions and Seminal Texts
AbuBaker Ibrahim, Zayed University, Institute for Islamic World Studies
Liberal Education: What, Why, and How? Evaluating Three Decades of Education’s
Response to Modernity in Contemporary Islamic Education
Pang Haishao, Beijing Institute of Technology, School of Education Research
University Education Reform Caused by General Education in China
Chair – Patricia Greer, (AGI ’95), St. John’s College
Moderator – Claudia Hauer, St. John’s College
14. Liberal Education and the Arts (Senior Common Room)
J. Scott Lee, Association of Core Texts, Executive Director
Cultural Institutions, Theatre, and Humanistic Liberal Arts Education: Where Do
We Go from Here?
Jane Kelley Rodeheffer, Fletcher Chair of Great Books, Pepperdine University
Musing Dante: A Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration Between Great Books and Visual
Arts
Chair – Gregory Schneider, St. John’s College
15. The Place of Liberal Education in the Emerging Field of Post-graduate
Learning (Meem Library, 202/203)
Chair -- Tom Krause, (SFGI ‘01), The Agora Foundation, President
Liberal Education for the Polity
Andrew Gilman, (SFGI ’03), The Agora Foundation, Vice President
Sustaining the Activity of Liberal Education by Training Teachers
Paul J. O’Reilly, Thomas Aquinas College, Vice President
Lincoln on Political Rights
Moderator – David Carl, Director of the Graduate Institute, St. John’s College,
Santa Fe
16. The Ends of Liberal Education: Flourishing and the Philosophic Life (Great
Hall)
Daniel DeNicola, Gettysburg College, Department of Philosophy
Learning to Flourish: A Philosophical Exploration of Liberal Education
Robert Welshon, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Department of
Philosophy
Philosophical Training, Dynamic Thought, and Cognitive Power
Chair – Christopher B. Nelson, (SF ’70), President, St. John’s College, Annapolis
17. The Question of Mathematics and Natural Science in the Context of the
Liberal Arts (Meem Library, Ault Evers Room)
William Cromartie, (SF ’69), Richard Stockton College, Environmental Studies
The Contemplative use of Natural Science
Topi Heikkerö, St. John’s College
Mathematics and Science as Liberal Arts
Robert Blumenthal, Georgia College, Department of Mathematics
The Role of Mathematics in Advancing the Goals of Liberal Education
Chair - Michael Dink, (A ‘75), Tutor and Former Dean, St. John’s College
3:15 – 3:45 p.m.: Break
3:45 – 5:15 p.m.: Plenary Session D: Eva Brann:
“Immediacy”, and Peter Pesic: “A Seminar with a Scalpel: Studying
Science Through Conversation”
(Introduction by Victoria Mora, Vice President for Advancement and Former Dean, St. John’s
College, Santa Fe)
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.: Dinner Banquet (advance registration required)
8:00 p.m.: Steiner Lecture: Roger Scruton:
“Architecture and Aesthetic Education”
(Introduction by Michael Golluber, St. John’s College)
Saturday, October 18th
8:00 - 8:45 a.m.: Light Breakfast (advance registration required)
Concurrent Panels: 8:45 - 10:15 a.m.
18. Modern Challenges to Liberal Education: Natural Science and Economics
(Great Hall)
Michael Dink, (A ’75), Tutor and Former Dean, St. John’s College
The Mutual Involvement of Modern Science and Modern Philosophy and Its
Implications for Liberal Education
Frank Pagano, St. John’s College
Value and Virtue in America
Chair – James Carey, (A ’66), Tutor and Former Dean, St. John’s College
19. Lifelong Learning (Meem Library, Ault Evers Room)
Chair -- Patricia Locke, St. John’s College
Glass, Silk, Fur and Amber: Scientific Experiments and the Electrified Imagination
Susan Locke, LePort Schools, Headmaster
Fostering Independence and Responsibility in the Montessori Classroom
Drew Leder, Loyola University, MD, Department of Philosophy
Seeing Bars, Hearing Voices
Kirsten Jacobson, (SF ’96), University of Maine, Department of Philosophy
Adventures in Second Sailing (or, Hands-On Learning as Central to a Liberal Arts
Education)
20. The Value of Liberal Education as Experienced Today (Senior Common Room)
Roger Gilman, Western Washington University, Fairhaven College of
Interdisciplinary Studies, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Philosophy
The Nature and Value of Liberal Education
Scott Campbell, Nazareth College, Department of Philosophy
What is the Value of a Liberal Arts Education?
Brandon Konoval, University of British Columbia, Arts One Program and School
of Music
Homeland, Hinterlands, or No Man’s Land? Weber, Veblen, and Humanities as
Vocation
Chair – Raoni Padui, St. John’s College
21. “Reading” Art Works (Junior Common Room)
Peter Hajnal, Bard College Berlin, (formerly European College of Liberal Arts),
Philosophy
Trusting the Amateur: What Pierodella Francesca's Legend of the True Cross May
Teach Us About the Study of Art
Geoff Lehman, Bard College Berlin, (formerly European College of Liberal Arts),
Art History
Bruegel's Via Crucis: (Visual) Experience and the Problem of Interpretation
Chair - Stephen Houser, (SF ’79), St. John’s College
Moderator – Susan Stickney, St. John’s College
22. Aristotle and the Question of Education (Meem Library, 202/203)
Thornton Lockwood, (AGI ’93), Quinnipiac University, Department of Philosophy
Servile Spartans: the Problem of Liberal Education in Aristotle’s Politics
Evanthia Speliotis, Bellarmine University, Department of Philosophy
Having the Capacity for Theoretical Reason, and What it Entails
Greg Recco, St. John’s College
Emotion and Human Development in Aristotle
Chair – Janet Dougherty, St. John’s College
23. Natural and Theological Premises of Liberal Education (Meem Library, 205/206)
Mahan Mirza, Zaytuna College, Dean
Liberal Education at a Muslim College: Between Authority and Audacity
R. Michael Olson, Saint Michael’s College, Department of Philosophy
Self-Knowledge and the Ends of Liberal Education in John Henry Newman’s Idea of
a University
Paul J. O’Reilly, Thomas Aquinas College, Vice President
Catholic Liberal Education
Chair – W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher, The Imaginative Conservative
Moderator – Marsaura Shukla, (A ’93), St. John’s College
10:15 - 10:45 a.m.: Coffee Break
10:45 – 12:00 p.m.: Plenary Session E: Lorraine Pangle:
“A Well-formed Mind: Aristotle and the Intellectual Virtues”
(Introduction by David Bolotin, St. John’s College)
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.: Lunch (advance registration required)
(next plenary begins at 12:25 p.m.)
12:25 – 1:25 p.m.: Plenary Session F: Gan Yang:
“The Emergence of Liberal Education and Classical Studies in China”
(Introduction by Krishnan Venkatesh, St. John’s College)
Concurrent Panels: 1:45 – 3:15 p.m.
24. Liberal Education and St. John’s College (Great Hall)
David Levine, (A ’67), Tutor and Former Dean, St. John’s College
An Enabling Education: On the Origins [archai] of the Great Books Program at St.
John's College
Christopher B. Nelson, (SF ’70), President, St. John’s College, Annapolis
The Challenges to Liberal Education and St. John’s College in the 21 st Century
Chair – Michael P. Peters, President, St. John’s College, Santa Fe
25. Heidegger and the Question of Education (Meem Library, 202/203)
Iain Thomson, University of New Mexico, Department of Philosophy
Thinking the Pedagogical Truth Event after Heidegger
David Arndt, Saint Mary’s College of California, The Collegiate Seminar
Liberal Education and the Question of Truth
Chair – Frank Hunt, (A ’74), St. John’s College
Moderator – Philip Bartok, St. John’s College
26. Modern Naturalism, Ethics, and the Humanities (Senior Common Room)
Marc Joseph, Mills College, Department of Philosophy
Modernity, Value, and Wittgenstein’s “Lecture on Ethics”
Jason Blakely, Pepperdine University, Department of Political Science
Defending the Humanities in the Naturalism vs. Anti-Naturalism Debate
Chair – Caleb Thompson, St. John’s College
Moderator – Sarah Davis, St. John’s College
27. Modern Philosophers and the Question of Education (Junior Common Room)
Daniel Burns, University of Dallas, Department of Politics
Rousseau’s Response to Plato’s “Treatise on Education”
Andrew Bove, Villanova University, Augustine and Culture Seminar Program
Liberal Education and the Transition from Civil Society to State in Hegel’s Political
Philosophy
Paul Kirkland, Carthage College, Department of Political Science
Imagining Ourselves Free: Schiller, Liberal Education, and Aesthetic Wholeness
Chair – Jonathan Hand, St. John’s College
28. Roundtable on Mathematics and Science as Liberal Arts: Newton, Faraday,
Maxwell (Meem Library, Ault Evers Room)
Co-Chairs -- Cary Stickney, (A ’75), St. John’s College
Chester Burke, (A ’74), St. John’s College
Participants – Bill Donahue, (A ‘67), St. John’s College
Greg Schneider, St. John’s College
Buck Wales, (SFGI ’00), St. John’s College
Howard Fisher, St. John’s College
Susann Bradford, (SF ’89), University of Montana
Topi Heikkerö, St. John’s College
Greg Recco, St. John’s College
Judith Adam, St. John’s College
Janet Dougherty, St. John’s College
3:15 – 3:45 p.m.: Break
3:45 - 5:00 p.m.: Plenary Session G: Matthew Crawford:
“Attention as a Cultural Problem”
(Introduction by Judith Adam, St. John’s College)
5:00 p.m.: Closing Reception (advance registration required)