Brett Bertucio | Benedictine College (original) (raw)
Papers by Brett Bertucio
Proceedings of the 2020 AERA Annual Meeting
Journal of Law and Religion, 2020
Associate Justice Hugo Black is often considered one of the giants of twentieth-century American ... more Associate Justice Hugo Black is often considered one of the giants of twentieth-century American religion clause jurisprudence. Especially regarding the Establishment Clause, Black sought to leave his mark on precedent. Previous biographers and legal scholars have noted the influence of his own religious convictions on his legal reasoning. I extend this line of inquiry but argue that Black's decisions enshrine a more concrete, substantive view of religion and political life than has previously been acknowledged. By drawing primarily on archival research regarding Justice Black's reading, correspondence, and religious membership, I argue that we can best understand his religious thought as a species of political theology, one I term syncretic civic moralism. In brief, Justice Black viewed the ideal religion as one free of doctrinal claims and primarily supporting prosocial behavior and civic loyalty. After outlining the impact of his theology on his landmark opinions, I concl...
Studies in Philosophy and Education, 2017
Philosophy of Education Archive, 2016
Silent men were observed about the country, or discovered in the forest, digging, clearing and bu... more Silent men were observed about the country, or discovered in the forest, digging, clearing and building; and other silent men, not seen, were sitting in the cold cloister, tiring their eyes and keeping their attention on the stretch, while they painfully copied and recopied the manuscripts which they had saved. There was no one who contended or cried out, or drew attention to what was going on, but by degrees the woody swamp became a hermitage, a religious house, a farm, an abbey, a village, a seminary, a school of learning and a city. — John Henry Newman, The Mission of the Benedictine Order Among the many privileges of her posterity, Rome tends to enjoy a larger space on the metaphorical palate of cultural critics during perceived times of crisis. Narratives comparing her decline to contemporary conditions often bring along an homage to Benedict of Nursia, in many ways the founder of Western Christian monasticism. Newman’s image of “silent men” often rallies would-be cultural pres...
IntroductIon Not more than a year ago, a speech given by John Agresto, a former deputy chairman o... more IntroductIon Not more than a year ago, a speech given by John Agresto, a former deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, reignited longstanding debates regarding the future of the humane disciplines.2 A subsequent flurry of essays, both in favor3 and in rebuttal,4 rehashed Allan Bloom’s decades-old claim that postmodern and critical theories have contributed to the decline of traditional humanities.5 While this “decline” may be empirically suspect,6 the “critical” thrust of higher education and its inherent antagonism toward the past – whether to the historical wisdom accumulated in an academic discipline or to some sweeping notion of “the Western tradition” – is undeniable. University bookstores are lined with works subtitled “A Critical History,” “A Critical Approach,” or “A Critical Reader.” Undergraduates often seem to equate scholarly understanding with the deconstruction of past ideas. Appeals to tradition are frequently dismissed as irrational or at least...
Journal of Law and Religion, 2020
Associate Justice Hugo Black is often considered one of the giants of twentieth-century American ... more Associate Justice Hugo Black is often considered one of the giants of twentieth-century American religion clause jurisprudence. Especially regarding the Establishment Clause, Black sought to leave his mark on precedent. Previous biographers and legal scholars have noted the influence of his own religious convictions on his legal reasoning. I extend this line of inquiry but argue that Black's decisions enshrine a more concrete, substantive view of religion and political life than has previously been acknowledged. By drawing primarily on archival research regarding Justice Black's reading, correspondence, and religious membership, I argue that we can best understand his religious thought as a species of political theology, one I term syncretic civic moralism. In brief, Justice Black viewed the ideal religion as one free of doctrinal claims and primarily supporting prosocial behavior and civic loyalty. After outlining the impact of his theology on his landmark opinions, I conclude by suggesting some of the consequences of Black's theo-political jurisprudence for contemporary American establishment debates.
Teachers College Record, 2018
Philosophy of Education Yearbook 2018, ed. Megan Laverty, 2018
I consider the rehabilitation of “disciplinary” student formation by a return to the monastic roo... more I consider the rehabilitation of “disciplinary” student formation by a return to the monastic roots of schooling in both the East and the West. Both Buddhist and Christian traditions share a deep concern with ascetic practices which discipline (here in the sense of the Latin disciplinare or “train”) the bodily faculties in order to awaken the discipulus (student) to themselves and to reality. The result is an authentic formatio (fashioning) in an Aristotelian sense.
Philosophy of Education Yearbook, ed. Natasha Levinson, 2016
In our current “critical” climate, it is essential for educators to recover a positive relationsh... more In our current “critical” climate, it is essential for educators to recover a positive relationship to the past. In this article, I propose the thought of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Luigi Giussani as models for the rehabilitation of our conceptions of authority, tradition, and criticism. I hope to extend Gadamer’s project contra the “Enlightenment prejudice against prejudice” to the role of tradition and authority in education. Further, the article aims to contribute to the philosophy of education literature by introducing the thought of the late Italian theologian and educator Luigi Giussani. Giussani’s The Risk of Education offers a pedagogical model that is remarkably consistent with Gadamerian principles. His work provides a concrete application of Gadamer’s thought, a further rehabilitation of “criticism,” and a more convincing account of how embeddedness in tradition serves to overcome subjectivism.
Studies in Philosophy and Education, 2017
This essay seeks to contribute to the critical reception of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objec... more This essay seeks to contribute to the critical reception of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives by tracing the Taxonomy’s underlying philosophical assumptions. Identifying Bloom’s work as consistent with the legacy of Cartesian thought, I argue that its hierarchy of behavioral objectives provides a framework for certainty and communicability in ascertaining student learning. However, its implicit rejection of intuitive knowledge as well as its antagonism between the human subject and the known object promote the Enlightenment ideal of education as “intellectual work.” When embodied in the Taxonomy, Cartesian assumptions foster a fundamental disposition in front of reality that is ultimately alienating. The paper begins with an explication of the Taxonomy’s affordances and philosophical assumptions. I then identify the Cartesian elements of these assumptions, particularly the Taxonomy’s inherent mind–body dualism and primacy of method. Finally, the paper employs these elements as an explanatory factor for the predominant critiques of the Taxonomy in educational theory literature. An addendum questions the possibility or plausibility of distance from objectives frameworks in the contemporary classroom.
Thresholds in Education, 2016
In this essay, Brett Bertucio evaluates the feasibility of employing what various theorists have ... more In this essay, Brett Bertucio evaluates the feasibility of employing what various theorists have termed the " epistemic criterion " in identifying controversies to be taught in the classroom. While sympathetic to the epistemic criterion, Bertucio argues that at present its application does not help delineate whether more than one reasonable view regarding an issue is plausible. Drawing on the thought of Alasdair MacIntyre, he contends that the decline of moral philosophy has reduced contemporary moral utterance to the mere re-statement of incommensurable ideologies. The author concludes by proposing two possible remedies. First, the introduction of intellectual history into secondary social studies curricula may help students and their teachers become aware of the contours of contemporary moral debate and examine their own epistemic assumptions. Second, the thought of the late Italian educator Luigi Giussani may provide a foundation to approach controversial issues based not on incommensurate conceptions of rationality but on existential desires.
Philosophy of Education Yearbook, ed. Eduarto Duarte, 2015
Proceedings of the 2020 AERA Annual Meeting
Journal of Law and Religion, 2020
Associate Justice Hugo Black is often considered one of the giants of twentieth-century American ... more Associate Justice Hugo Black is often considered one of the giants of twentieth-century American religion clause jurisprudence. Especially regarding the Establishment Clause, Black sought to leave his mark on precedent. Previous biographers and legal scholars have noted the influence of his own religious convictions on his legal reasoning. I extend this line of inquiry but argue that Black's decisions enshrine a more concrete, substantive view of religion and political life than has previously been acknowledged. By drawing primarily on archival research regarding Justice Black's reading, correspondence, and religious membership, I argue that we can best understand his religious thought as a species of political theology, one I term syncretic civic moralism. In brief, Justice Black viewed the ideal religion as one free of doctrinal claims and primarily supporting prosocial behavior and civic loyalty. After outlining the impact of his theology on his landmark opinions, I concl...
Studies in Philosophy and Education, 2017
Philosophy of Education Archive, 2016
Silent men were observed about the country, or discovered in the forest, digging, clearing and bu... more Silent men were observed about the country, or discovered in the forest, digging, clearing and building; and other silent men, not seen, were sitting in the cold cloister, tiring their eyes and keeping their attention on the stretch, while they painfully copied and recopied the manuscripts which they had saved. There was no one who contended or cried out, or drew attention to what was going on, but by degrees the woody swamp became a hermitage, a religious house, a farm, an abbey, a village, a seminary, a school of learning and a city. — John Henry Newman, The Mission of the Benedictine Order Among the many privileges of her posterity, Rome tends to enjoy a larger space on the metaphorical palate of cultural critics during perceived times of crisis. Narratives comparing her decline to contemporary conditions often bring along an homage to Benedict of Nursia, in many ways the founder of Western Christian monasticism. Newman’s image of “silent men” often rallies would-be cultural pres...
IntroductIon Not more than a year ago, a speech given by John Agresto, a former deputy chairman o... more IntroductIon Not more than a year ago, a speech given by John Agresto, a former deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, reignited longstanding debates regarding the future of the humane disciplines.2 A subsequent flurry of essays, both in favor3 and in rebuttal,4 rehashed Allan Bloom’s decades-old claim that postmodern and critical theories have contributed to the decline of traditional humanities.5 While this “decline” may be empirically suspect,6 the “critical” thrust of higher education and its inherent antagonism toward the past – whether to the historical wisdom accumulated in an academic discipline or to some sweeping notion of “the Western tradition” – is undeniable. University bookstores are lined with works subtitled “A Critical History,” “A Critical Approach,” or “A Critical Reader.” Undergraduates often seem to equate scholarly understanding with the deconstruction of past ideas. Appeals to tradition are frequently dismissed as irrational or at least...
Journal of Law and Religion, 2020
Associate Justice Hugo Black is often considered one of the giants of twentieth-century American ... more Associate Justice Hugo Black is often considered one of the giants of twentieth-century American religion clause jurisprudence. Especially regarding the Establishment Clause, Black sought to leave his mark on precedent. Previous biographers and legal scholars have noted the influence of his own religious convictions on his legal reasoning. I extend this line of inquiry but argue that Black's decisions enshrine a more concrete, substantive view of religion and political life than has previously been acknowledged. By drawing primarily on archival research regarding Justice Black's reading, correspondence, and religious membership, I argue that we can best understand his religious thought as a species of political theology, one I term syncretic civic moralism. In brief, Justice Black viewed the ideal religion as one free of doctrinal claims and primarily supporting prosocial behavior and civic loyalty. After outlining the impact of his theology on his landmark opinions, I conclude by suggesting some of the consequences of Black's theo-political jurisprudence for contemporary American establishment debates.
Teachers College Record, 2018
Philosophy of Education Yearbook 2018, ed. Megan Laverty, 2018
I consider the rehabilitation of “disciplinary” student formation by a return to the monastic roo... more I consider the rehabilitation of “disciplinary” student formation by a return to the monastic roots of schooling in both the East and the West. Both Buddhist and Christian traditions share a deep concern with ascetic practices which discipline (here in the sense of the Latin disciplinare or “train”) the bodily faculties in order to awaken the discipulus (student) to themselves and to reality. The result is an authentic formatio (fashioning) in an Aristotelian sense.
Philosophy of Education Yearbook, ed. Natasha Levinson, 2016
In our current “critical” climate, it is essential for educators to recover a positive relationsh... more In our current “critical” climate, it is essential for educators to recover a positive relationship to the past. In this article, I propose the thought of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Luigi Giussani as models for the rehabilitation of our conceptions of authority, tradition, and criticism. I hope to extend Gadamer’s project contra the “Enlightenment prejudice against prejudice” to the role of tradition and authority in education. Further, the article aims to contribute to the philosophy of education literature by introducing the thought of the late Italian theologian and educator Luigi Giussani. Giussani’s The Risk of Education offers a pedagogical model that is remarkably consistent with Gadamerian principles. His work provides a concrete application of Gadamer’s thought, a further rehabilitation of “criticism,” and a more convincing account of how embeddedness in tradition serves to overcome subjectivism.
Studies in Philosophy and Education, 2017
This essay seeks to contribute to the critical reception of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objec... more This essay seeks to contribute to the critical reception of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives by tracing the Taxonomy’s underlying philosophical assumptions. Identifying Bloom’s work as consistent with the legacy of Cartesian thought, I argue that its hierarchy of behavioral objectives provides a framework for certainty and communicability in ascertaining student learning. However, its implicit rejection of intuitive knowledge as well as its antagonism between the human subject and the known object promote the Enlightenment ideal of education as “intellectual work.” When embodied in the Taxonomy, Cartesian assumptions foster a fundamental disposition in front of reality that is ultimately alienating. The paper begins with an explication of the Taxonomy’s affordances and philosophical assumptions. I then identify the Cartesian elements of these assumptions, particularly the Taxonomy’s inherent mind–body dualism and primacy of method. Finally, the paper employs these elements as an explanatory factor for the predominant critiques of the Taxonomy in educational theory literature. An addendum questions the possibility or plausibility of distance from objectives frameworks in the contemporary classroom.
Thresholds in Education, 2016
In this essay, Brett Bertucio evaluates the feasibility of employing what various theorists have ... more In this essay, Brett Bertucio evaluates the feasibility of employing what various theorists have termed the " epistemic criterion " in identifying controversies to be taught in the classroom. While sympathetic to the epistemic criterion, Bertucio argues that at present its application does not help delineate whether more than one reasonable view regarding an issue is plausible. Drawing on the thought of Alasdair MacIntyre, he contends that the decline of moral philosophy has reduced contemporary moral utterance to the mere re-statement of incommensurable ideologies. The author concludes by proposing two possible remedies. First, the introduction of intellectual history into secondary social studies curricula may help students and their teachers become aware of the contours of contemporary moral debate and examine their own epistemic assumptions. Second, the thought of the late Italian educator Luigi Giussani may provide a foundation to approach controversial issues based not on incommensurate conceptions of rationality but on existential desires.
Philosophy of Education Yearbook, ed. Eduarto Duarte, 2015