I think at a place like Harvard, our experience, I was involved with, at various stages, in trying to implement a new general education curriculum, our experience was that Harvard's all about specialization, that's not just true of the professori, it's also true of a lot of the undergraduates, too, and they come, they kind of know what they want to do, they select it because they have a strong aptitude for something in particular.
Louis MenandCognitive science is a rapidly developing area, so it could be that there are some surprises around the corner. That does seem to be kind of where the trend line is leading.
Louis MenandFor the kind of places I've written for and the kind of writing that I've done, the general way to think about your audience is to think about somebody who's like yourself, but in a completely different discipline.
Louis MenandI think our sensibility is not modernist anymore, that is, sensibility of people who are interested in art and literature.
Louis MenandOne of the good things about the profession of being a professor, is that you also have time to do what interests you and what you care about or what you're good at.
Louis MenandUniversities are set up to get people to work together by having them disagree with each other.
Louis MenandI'm not one of the people who has a kind of scholarly hat and writes in a certain way for an academic audience and then puts on a public intellectual hat and writes a different way for a different kind of readership. I generally write the way I write, no matter what and it seems to have worked for me.
Louis Menand