Allan Bloom
Allan Bloom: A Life of Intellectual Ferocity
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Allan David Bloom was an American philosopher, classicist, and public intellectual. His full name is often cited as Allan David Bloom.
Birth and Death Dates
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Allan Bloom was born on September 14, 1930, in Colchester, Vermont. He passed away on October 7, 1992, at the age of 62.
Nationality and Profession(s)
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Bloom was an American philosopher, classicist, and academic. His work spanned multiple disciplines, including philosophy, literature, and music.
Early Life and Background
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Allan Bloom grew up in a Jewish family in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, David Bloom, was a lawyer who later became a judge. Allan's mother, Ruth (née Hamburger), was a homemaker. He had two siblings: a sister, Deborah, and a brother, Donald.
Bloom developed an interest in classical music at a young age and began playing the piano at five years old. His love for music remained a lifelong passion. He attended the University of Chicago Lab School before enrolling at the University of Chicago as an undergraduate.
Major Accomplishments
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During his academic career, Bloom held positions at several institutions:
He was a fellow and lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford (1955-1961)
A professor of philosophy at Yale University (1964-1968) and later at the University of Chicago (1975-1992)
Bloom's notable works include:
The Closing of the American Mind (1987): a critical examination of the intellectual state of America in the 1980s
Shakespeare's Politics (1981): an analysis of Shakespeare's politics and their relevance to modern society
Notable Works or Actions
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Bloom was known for his provocative writings on culture, politics, and education. Some notable works include:
The Closing of the American Mind: Bloom criticized the rising trend of relativism in academia and argued that it undermined intellectual rigor.
Shakespeare's Politics: In this work, Bloom explored Shakespeare's portrayal of power dynamics, exploring how they relate to modern politics.
Impact and Legacy
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Bloom's ideas continue to influence contemporary debates about higher education, culture, and politics. His critiques of relativism and his advocacy for the importance of classical knowledge have sparked intense discussions among scholars and intellectuals.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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Allan Bloom is widely quoted and remembered due to his thought-provoking writings on the state of American society in the 1980s. His critiques of relativism, as well as his emphasis on the importance of classical knowledge, have made him a significant figure in contemporary intellectual debates.
About Allan Bloom's Legacy
Bloom's work has been widely influential across various disciplines and continues to be studied today. The debate over the relevance of classical education and the dangers of relativism remains an ongoing conversation that is sparked by his writing.
Allan Bloom's legacy serves as a testament to the power of ideas in shaping our understanding of the world around us.
Quotes by Allan Bloom
Allan Bloom's insights on:
Shakespeare did not consider himself the legislator of mankind. He faithfully records man's problems and does not evidently propose to solve them.
Shakespeare is practically our only link with the classic and the past. The future of education has much to do with whether we will be able to cling to him or not.
Shakespeare's naturalness is attested to by the strange fact that he is the only classical author who remains popular. The critical termites are massed and eating away at the foundations, trying to topple him. Whether they will succeed will be a test of his robustness.
I bless a society that tolerates and supports an eternal childhood for some, a childhood whose playfulness can, in turn, be a blessing to society.
I never considered myself a writer. I'm a teacher. In a way, I feel kind of... kind of guilty for all the people who are writers who hope to be on the best-seller list someday, who live for that and don't get it, and it came to me as a kind of free gift, like God coming to Abraham and announcing, 'I've chosen you!'
The way I knew I was right about something was the kids got angry. That's very important: you touch that anger.
All literature up to today is sexist. The Muses never sang to the poets about liberated women. It’s the same old chanson from the Bible and Homer through Joyce and Proust.
Most of all I admire Mozart’s capacity to be both deep and rational, a combination often said to be impossible.
Only when the true ends of society have nothing to do with the sublime does “culture” become necessary as a veneer to cover over the void. Culture can at best appreciate the monuments of earlier faith; it cannot produce them.