David Foster Wallace in his 2005 commencement speech to Kenyon College graduates said that the purpose (value) of a liberal arts education is the mitigation of our default setting in life: self-centeredness; we learn to think about (and appreciate) other things, other people, and other ideas. Thus, we become human beings.
There is, however, a horrible irony in Wallace's advice. While he argued against self-centeredness in 2005, he committed suicide a few later. I will let other sort out the ironies involved in that issue.
David Foster Wallace in his 2005 commencement speech to Kenyon College graduates said that the purpose (value) of a liberal arts education is the mitigation of our default setting in life: self-centeredness; we learn to think about (and appreciate) other things, other people, and other ideas. Thus, we become human beings.
ReplyDeleteThere is, however, a horrible irony in Wallace's advice. While he argued against self-centeredness in 2005, he committed suicide a few later. I will let other sort out the ironies involved in that issue.