Review of "Love the questions: University education and enlightenment"

Angus, I. (2009). Love the questions: University education and enlightenment. Winnipeg, MB: Arbeiter Ring Publishing. Pages: 176. Price: 14.95 CAD (paper).This little book, as Angus modestly describes it, is tome-like in its elucidation of the forces that have altered the university from its traditional ideals into a contemporary corporate ethos. Angus champions as a worthy and viable enterprise to protect as the raison d'etre of the university. Inspired by the poet Rilke's statement to love the questions themselves (p. 29, italics in original), Angus declares self-knowledge and self-expression to be the ideal. He is careful not to romance the concept, and instead seeks to redefine and demonstrate its rootedness despite the trending toward practical and material endeavors that mark the contemporary university. The commitment to questioning self and world gives a university coherence-that necessary unity of knowledge (p. 61). Ultimately, is a disposition and process of critique rather than a product, much like education is something one lives rather than has, as Angus explains. It is these careful dissections of definitions and concepts that give Love the Questions explanatory power and argumentative force.Angus outlines his agenda in the preface and defines the problem in the first three chapters. The purpose of his book is to explain how university has changed and why, and to champion as the epitome of education. His writing is personable, if not vulnerable, for he shares his experience of teaching university seminars and admits to being horrified (p. 30) at students' nonchalance with ideas. This admission is a hook: readers are drawn into the notion that university and what goes on there is not (or should not be) an abstract or inert idea or venture. It has affect. Angus' willingness to share his disillusionment may be a position with which others in the academic community may resonate. That professors such as Angus care about students' experiences is something about which those outside the academy should know. Despite the shiftin students' posturing toward ideas, and the corporatized environment in which they seek their credentials, Angus constructs a positive argument and not a narrative of decline (p. 101). What makes Love the Questions different from some books about the changing nature of the university is that it presents a changing reality while resisting resignation to it. This book calls for professors, students, administrators, and the lay public to become aware of how and why the university has changed.Angus charts his course using history, philosophy, and observation. He engages in what he promotes: reflecting on the historical application of concepts as a means to reorienting them for modern times. To understand how can be applied to the contemporary university requires one to know from where it has come. Although organized like a footnote, the section A on Enlightenment that follows the main chapters provides a foundational overview of how has been considered by key thinkers. Besides displaying Angus' philosophical acumen, this section serves to nuance the meaning of enlightenment. Angus cleaves what may be considered cannon or cliche by showing how enlightenment is not the same as its capitalized progeny, Enlightenment. The historical insight and conceptual clarity is central to Angus' claim that critique which is both reflective and forward-looking is a sine quo non of a university. Angus justifies appending this to lighten the often over-burdened academic style (p. 11), and this is what makes the book appealing and accessible to a broad readership. Unequivocally, however, the exposition anchors his project.The same can be said about the Note on Techno-Science which follows the exposition on enlightenment. …

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