Sharpening the Conservative Mind. The American Right's Reception and Reconstruction of Allan Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind"

Moritz Mücke

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Bachelor Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, University of Frankfurt (Main) (I...

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Bachelor Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, University of Frankfurt (Main) (Institut für England- und Amerikastudien), language: English, abstract: In 1987 the American philosopher Allan David Bloom published his controversial book "The Closing of the American Mind," in which he critiziced contemporary trends in American academia as well as in the popular culture. The author was particularly critical of concepts like historicism and moral and cultural relativism. The book was largely perceived to be a conservative tract, although Bloom himself rejected the label 'conservative'. While liberal commentators were skecptical of Bloom's theses, conservative intellectuals by and large praised the book. The conflict laid bare here was-and is-a battle between political forces for cultural sovereignty, especially in the universities, the commanding heights of American intellectual life. This conflict was well captured in Camille Paglia's famous description of "The Closing of the American Mind" as the ''first shot in the culture wars''. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into the American Right's reception and reconstruction of "The Closing of the American Mind" and to determine the initial impact and lasting influence the book had on American conservative thought. In order to provide a comprehensive analysis, eminent conservative publications as well as the writings of notable conservative intellectuals will be examined. Different responses from different factions of the conservative coalition shall be differentiated and taken into account, as will the changing perception of Bloom's ideas over time. Therefore this paper is divided into different sections, one of which will cover the time immediately after the publication of The Closing and another the time between the initial response and the present. These two parts are complemented by another two sections which will examine the history of American conservatism from 1945 up to the respective points in time and thereby provide the necessary context.