Student 'Nihilism,' Morals Could Learn From Constitution

"College students today think and speak in a jargon of nihilism," Allan Bloom, professor of political philosophy at the University of Chicago, told an audience of 100 last night at the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics Forum.

In a speech on "Easygoing Nihilism: The Contemporary University Education," Bloom charged that students are unwilling to appear intolerant of other cultures by taking strong moral stands.

As an example where tolerance may be misdirected, he cited the Eskimo custom of leaving their elderly in the cold to die when they can no longer support themselves.

Bloom attributed society's excessive moral sensitivity to the strife of the 1960s, particularly associated with the movements for Black civil rights and women's liberation.

He proposed turning to reason, the Bill of Rights, and the U.S. Constitution for guidance and a lesson against the "saccharine view that we should all get along."

But Sociology Professor Nathan Glazer cautioned that "nihilism" may not be nationally pervasive, adding that "there must be parts of the country where the teaching of openness is a worthwhile undertaking."

Law School Professor Duncan M. Kennedy '64 agreed with Bloom that it is counter-productive to believe that "no possible way of life stinks."

Describing himself as a "defender of prejudices," Bloom roused the audience with his statement that "indiscriminateness is a moral imperative because the opposite is discrimination."

"Rather than rewrite the Bible to say that God wasn't a sexist, we should try to find out why God was a sexist," Bloom added.

Bloom has long been a critic of current teenage values. In a National Review article last year, he wrote that "Books are no longer an important part of student lives."

All students care about today is "information," rock music, and sex, he added.