Universities and Truth

Pfaff comments on the debate over “cultural relativism,” the question of whether the thought and art of the West should be taught in our universities rather than that of, say, China or India. He relates this scholastic issue to a more profound problem of the 20th Century, something he calls “the problem of truth.” “If truth doesn’t exist or cannot be determined, why,” he says, “do we do what we do?” And if “I possess the truth while you are in error, why should I not send you to prison, Siberia or the gas ovens in order to eliminate error from society?” He tries to answer this philosophical riddle by using reason, which he traces back to the rationalism of the ancient Greeks, whom he credits with giving us “our essential quality as a society.”

Although I am in sympathy with his conclusion that our universities have a right, indeed an obligation, to teach the classics as they have for years, I could not disagree more with his history. Greek rationalism has little to do with the quality of Western society, which can, in fact, be traced back to the ancient Hebrews, and more precisely the Ten Commandments. It is ironic that Pfaff makes this mistake, since it undermines his case.

That’s because rationalism is relative. It changes with place and time.

Western civilization is based on an absolute knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong. In our society, for instance, it is absolutely right to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It is right to believe that life is sacred, and absolutely wrong to think otherwise. Murder is wrong. These are not debatable issues. They are the bedrock of Western thinking and are, in fact, carved in stone, the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments.

Lest there be any doubt of its importance to Western civilization, imagine how different things would be if the Decalogue read differently, if, for instance, the commandment to honor one’s mother and father failed to mention “mother.” Some scholars trace the beginning of the women’s movement back to that commandment, along with the commandments against adultery and coveting thy neighbor’s wife.

In short, though Pfaff might have a “truth problem,” Western civilization does not. Perhaps that is why he concludes on a fearful note, lamenting what this current academic debate might yield, but I, for one, am not worried. We’ve plenty of room on our library shelves. Let the students question, probe and challenge. That, after all, is the soul of true learning, and I feel our schools are enlivened by it.

RUEBEN GORDON

North Hollywood