Why Universities Must Choose One Telos: Truth or Social Justice
Heterodox | Jonathan Haidt
“Aristotle often evaluated a thing with respect to its “telos” – its purpose, end, or goal. The telos of a knife is to cut. The telos of a physician is health or healing. What is the telos of university?”
In this seminal piece, Haidt argues, “The most obvious answer is ‘truth’ –- the word appears on so many university crests. But increasingly, many of America’s top universities are embracing social justice as their telos, or as a second and equal telos. But can any institution or profession have two teloses (or teloi)? What happens if they conflict?”
The piece is a summary of his talks at Wellesley, SUNY New Paltz, and Duke University in 2016 (Duke below). Responses to the piece include: “The Truth is Not Enough” by Oliver Traldi, “Truth and Social Justice: How Universities Can Embrace Both of These Values” by Patrick Casey, and “On Truth and Ideology in Academia” by Christian Alejandro Gonzalez.
