Overview

Not so long ago, conservative intellectuals such as William F. Buckley Jr. believed universities were worth fighting for. Today, conservatives seem more inclined to burn them down. In Let's Be Reasonable, conservative political theorist and professor Jonathan Marks finds in liberal education an antidote to this despair, arguing that the true purpose of college is to encourage people to be reasonable. Drawing on the ideas of John Locke and other thinkers, Marks presents the case for why, now more than ever, conservatives must not give up on higher education. He recognizes that professors and administrators frequently adopt the language of the left, but he explains why conservative nightmare visions of liberal persecution and indoctrination bear little resemblance to what actually goes on in college classrooms. Marks examines why advocates for liberal education struggle to offer a coherent defense of themselves against their critics, and demonstrates why such a defense must rest on the cultivation of reason and of pride in being reasonable. More than just a campus battlefield guide, Let's Be Reasonable recovers what is truly liberal about liberal education--the ability to reason for oneself and with others--and shows why the liberally educated person considers reason to be more than just a tool for scoring political points.

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Jonathan Marks is professor of politics at Ursinus College and a blogger for Commentary magazine. He is the author of Perfection and Disharmony in the Thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and has written on higher education for the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Wall Street Journal, and the Weekly Standard. He lives in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. John McLain is an actor, professional voice talent, and Earphones Award-winning narrator. He has been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. On stage, he has appeared in The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Amahl & the Night Visitors, and The Music Man.

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