Eric Adler

Professor of Classics @UofMaryland; interested in humanism, classics, higher education, and jazz. RTs ≠ endorsements. New book:

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

📢Coming soon(ish): Folke Leander's philosophical analysis of the ideas of Paul Elmer More, edited and introduced by Claes G. Ryn and yours truly.

Leander's book amounts to the fullest explication of the philosophy of the New Humanism ever written.

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

I bought a copy of one of Paul Elmer More's volumes of *Shelburne Essays* from a used bookstore online, in part because it was inexpensive.

When it arrived, I was surprised to see that More had inscribed the copy itself, as a gift to his son-in-law.

$5 well spent, I think.

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

@MajorsBruc34400 The camera angle cuts off my flowing locks in the back.

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

Naturally, I'm too old to understand the reference here, but I appreciate the use of an old photo, which makes me look slightly more youthful (but otherwise tragically unhip).

Is there anything better than the @newthinkery X account? Other than the podcast, of course.

[The New Thinkery @thenewthinkery]

Hold your horses, I'ma show you who the boss of i-- is
S--, I'm takin' no losses
Even groups like SWV and TLC
Can't see Eric E. with telepathy

The recipe, a pinch of Seneca with a gun
Pimpin' ain't easy but it sure is fun!

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

@PhiloCrocodile https://t.co/t1FqBLYAJy

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

RIP, jazz genius Sonny Rollins. In his honor, here's one of my favorite Rollins tunes, which a friend and I revered in our college days. It's a hokey song, which Rollins' playing transcends:

https://t.co/At2MOaJeFp

[Jennifer A. Frey @jennfrey]

One reason I don't buy the cost argument to explain why students don't pursue the liberal arts is that we see the same declines among the wealthy students or in places where tuition isn't as big of a burden (Europe and UK).

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

I've just started @wmarybeard's new book and am enjoying this conversation about it--in part because our perspectives on classics in places seem to differ.

Prof. Beard is a wonderfully welcoming representative for the classics.

Listen! Listen!

[mary beard @wmarybeard]

Thanks to the folks at Laphams Quarterly for this interview. Extract of new book will appear next week! https://t.co/HUCIyAUwzG

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

Proofs or it didn't happen...

[David Decosimo @DavidDecosimo]

It's great that schools like St. John's & Ralston are AI-free. But this is key: The good at stake in teaching & learning *as a human (not robot) activity* is not a niche thing for "quirky" schools. It's a universal good for all liberal education, from R1 to SLAC & all in between.

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

"If you haven't done that work of deep humane reflection and self-cultivation, you are not really engaged in that project of becoming a person."

Wonderful words in defense of the liberal arts from @jennfrey, in a probing interview with @DouthatNYT.

Listen! Listen!

[Jennifer A. Frey @jennfrey]

I'm grateful to @DouthatNYT for inviting me on his podcast to discuss the fate of the liberal arts and humanities in the age of AI. I hope that all those who follow higher ed and care about the liberal arts will listen.

https://t.co/xy4l8LTxs8 https://t.co/xy4l8LTxs8

[Tyler Austin Harper @Tyler_A_Harper]

Universities cutting humanities programs know the going narrative is “the humanities are in crisis.” So if you cut them, the public will assume it’s because there is no demand when the truth is universities are cutting the liberal arts to pay for nonsense or offset mismanagement.

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

"Mankind have such a deep stake in inward illumination, that there is much to be said by the hermit or monk in defence of his life of thought and prayer."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Goethe; or, the Writer" (1850)

[Zena Hitz @zenahitz]

My sense is that the number one motivation for typical education leaders is: "Whatever we do, let's be sure it's what everyone else is doing."

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

@cjscalia Hawthorn? The Scarlet Letter? The House of the Seven Gables?

[Christopher J. Scalia @cjscalia]

I’m very happy about some of the novels that made this list, especially My Antonia, The Prime of Miss Brodie, and Tristram Shandy. But not including either Ivanhoe or Waverley? That’s nuts. https://t.co/vMq2YWjNVw

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

As if the incessant nattering about Christopher Nolan's upcoming *Odyssey* movie weren't sufficiently irksome, Martin Bernal has now made an unexpected comeback...

[Adrian Vermeule @Vermeullarmine]

My mother demolished this decades ago, just saying: https://t.co/CZFThYmm3h

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

@AdeleScalia Great to meet you at the ceremony and learn all your thoughts about the aesthetic appeal of the young Noam Chomsky.

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

@GregMcBrayer3 Look at that fancy Maryland regalia! You are an academic peacock, Dr. McBrayer.

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

Thanks to the wonderful @umissouripress, the late Folke Leander's full-scale analysis of the philosophy behind the New Humanist movement will finally see the light of day in October:

https://t.co/4QV6JF5R0K

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

@IVMiles Congratulations!!!

[Eric Adler @ProfEricAdler]

"The anti-Semitic discrimination has indeed grown into a scholastic fad, quite overshadowing the earlier ideal of the American university, which, with all its faults, was cosmopolitan in its hospitality.”
--Charles H. Grandgent, "Tousser et Cracher" (1924)