在这篇文章的前面提到了美国大学中几乎普遍放弃了真正的博雅教育. It was observed that liberal education, which in the past was the soul of higher education, has been largely replaced by professional and technological curricula. 在博雅教育的名义下，剩下的是一系列旨在让学生熟悉“文化”和“学习”各个方面的课程.”
这种版本的博雅教育被恰当地称为人文主义，因为它关注的是人的作品. 人类的科学和文学成就被认为是值得研究的，因为它们是人类辉煌的成就. 人文主义，在文艺复兴时期开始抢占所有竞争者的先机 Weltanschauung of higher education, seems chiefly to have come about as a justification for education, when men came increasingly to doubt the power of reason to know 现实. The modern doctrine of academic freedom, in the main accepted by contemporary schools, 正式地把同样的怀疑作为教育的基本原则. 坚持每一个教条(除了它自己)本质上是开放的自由探索, 学术自由意味着人类智力声称知道的东西没有一样是真正知道的, but only dubitable. 这就是说，绝对的怀疑主义是教育的持久条件，而人们在努力认识现实的过程中，总是以各种方式逃避现实. 当代“博雅艺术”是如此彻底的历史和人文主义，这一事实的解释是，人类智力成就的价值并不以他积累的智慧的真理为基础, but in the fact that wisdom is a hu男人。 creation, a glorious product in which to rejoice. Liberal education then is not seen at bottom as something good for 男人。, 但作为值得研究和保存的东西，原因很简单 从 男人。.
与将博雅教育定义为人文主义的流行倾向相反, 另一种更持久的观点是否因其内在优点而促使我们接受. 一个人利用闲暇时间去了解他的传统中最伟大思想家的思想，并沉浸在对产生他的知识文化的理解中，这也许是一件好事, 但是，认为这应该是占据他闲暇时间的唯一甚至主要的智力兴趣，这似乎是错误的. 虽然有人可能打算把他的研究局限于人类的学术成就, the very subject he studies will show the vanity of such a limited end, for these learned achievements, preserved in what are often c所有ed the Great Books, 他们的努力是为了让学生或读者对现实本身有所了解吗.
一个人读这些西方文明的珍贵名著，仅仅是出于历史和人文的兴趣，而不背叛它们的作者, whose principal purposes, by and large, were through their writings to speak not historic所有y, but rather scientific所有y and philosophic所有y, proposing universal truths, abstracting 从 the here and now. 这些伟大的作家几乎普遍认为，教育与思想无关, as if they were important simply in themselves, but about things. 那些被人文主义视为人类创造力的杰出例证的伟大思想，被那些产生这些思想的人认为是值得的, not because they were creative or novel, but because they were inventive of nature’s truth.
Unless this basic orientation to truth be recognized and retained, education and intelligence quickly become meaningless. 自由教育的旧立场和常识的知识概念都把智力的生活看作是由现实定义的目标，并以BG电子现实的真理作为其目的. Philosophy begins in wonder so that it might end in wisdom. And unless 男人。, even when he first wonders about 现实, apprehends it in some fundamental way, albeit imperfectly and confusedly, his wonder is meaningless and his hope to know the truth is vain. 事实上，自古以来，人类就有一种非反思性的自信，即他确实从与现实的第一次体验中理解了现实, 当他开始反思世界的意义时，他已经是“外面”世界的知者了, to clarify its nature in his understanding, and to pursue its secrets. Reality is possessed through knowledge by 所有 men in a general and indistinct but eminently certain way.
That there is a pre-reflexive, 对现实的共同意识是人类能够相互交流这一事实的专利. If 所有 men did not in some way form like ideas of the world “out there,“他们的思想不可能通过演讲和交谈达成一致. 至少，现实的基本概念必须存在于人们的头脑中，并且首先是什么意思 现实 would be that which these primary concepts represent. 对共同经历和共同观念的假设不仅属于同一时代的人，而且属于所有时代的所有人, 正如上述名著的写作和阅读所显示的那样. 当人们开始反思他们对现实的知识时，他们已经是现实的拥有者了, 他们对它的反思和系统的阐述并没有破坏这种占有, 除非这些努力实际上否定了这些共同和基本概念的现实和真理, and unless they fail to build their science upon them. 这样的否认会拒绝让其他一切变得有意义的主要经验. 但是，忠实地建立在共同经验之上的科学，构成了被称为永恒哲学的智慧, 而这正是我们知识遗产的实质，也正是它使真正的博雅教育成为可能.
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