The Critical Open Mind

The two men took turns speaking their cases, and between them lay on the ground two talents of gold, to be given to that judge who in this case spoke the straightest opinion. But around the other city were lying two forces of armed men . . . .

—Homer, The Iliad, Book 18 (Trans. Lattimore)

Welcome to my website. My name is Albert B Fernandez. I teach in the University of Chicago’s Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults, and I am also Professor Emeritus of Cultural History and Humanities at the Shimer School of North Central College, in Illinois. The title of this site is meant to convey that two qualities that are often cultivated in isolation are both necessary to attain rhetorical maturity and be effective at persuading people.

As already indicated by my professional titles, the interests that I may address in this website are wide-ranging. But I start out, in the summer of 2023, especially hoping for a space where civil discourse will flourish, at a time when the internet and public forums are vitiated by what Plato called “eristics,” which is discourse that does not seek truth or understanding, but victory over those who disagree and the venting of hostile feelings toward them. So visitors are invited to post and comment, and to criticize and contest, but this site does not offer a space for verbal abuse or vituperation, and such comments will be deleted. The understanding of civility that I hope will inform these pages is expounded at length in the first post by me and perhaps in posts by others.

This website was never intended to be anything more than a no-frills, reading-intensive space, but I do apologize for technical errors and imperfections.

CONTENTS:

• On Civility and Its Misunderstanding
• Derrida and Deconstruction: A Primer
• Teaching Knowledge: Review of Hirsch’s The Knowledge Deficit
• Talking with the Ancestors: Hermeneutics in the Classroom
• Valedictory
• contact the author

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