[CrisBrown]

Hi JPolin,

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If one believes in the malaise and decadence of Western civilization (as my professor does), then moral relativists and deconstructionists are some of the prime villains. By disintegrating and delegitimizing traditional rubrics of moral authority, they have caused people to lose a sense of objective right and wrong and thus to live in a hedonistic and irresponsible way that will lead to the decay of Western civilization.

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Ahhhh ... to the heart of the matter. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Okay, first, your professor's argument is self-supporting. He asserts the existence of a problem: Western society is suffering from malaise and decadence. He then tells you how dire the consequences are: the decay of Western civilization. He's even considerate enough to tell you who to blame: those moral relativists and deconstructionists and other "modern" thinkers. If you asked him, I bet he could even supply the solution: that all should return to the arms of mother church, renounce modern-relativist-decadent thought, and once again submit to the will of God.

Next time you see him, ask him for his opinions on Christian Reconstructionism or Dominionism. I'm willing to bet they'll be positive.

Then ask him to prove his diagnosis of decadence and malaise in contemporary Western society (he can't), and his alleged consequences (he can't except by failed analogy), and his case against the blameworthy (again, he can't).

After he's done making an idiot of himself, make a note that the primary purpose of higher education is to teach you to think critically, and that professors don't are just as subject to faulty opinions as anyone else.

Cris