The Pursuit of Truth

This speech, advocating eloquently for the pursuit of truth, given 35 years ago to the entering class at Yale by then president, Benno Schmidt, is more timely today than it even was then. Yes, as he says, we may not be facing the same kind of challenge that Havel did, but in truth we may be. I cannot recall a challenge to "truth", being as great as it is today anytime in my lifetime. Of course, I have seen other authoritarian leaders, present truth in any way they choose, denying the truth, and lessons of history. But I never thought I would see such a nefarious and dangerous assault on truth advanced by the president of the United States. We must keep up the battle for truth, as best we know it. As my late dear wife, Francie said,"Don't stand back". From Benno Schmidt: "The pursuit of truth under the burden of individual autonomy is a commitment that depends on courage and integrity quite as much as it depends on learning and intellectual power. Truth is elusive and often disillusioning and painful. A commitment to truth will deny you the dark pleasure of losing your autonomy to the herd. The tranquilizing effects of the trivial temptations of modern life will not bring you peace. Yet at the crossroads where some of the darkest forces of human history laid waste, and writing in the dark shadows of 1978, Vaclav Havel could write these magnificent words. They are words I hope you will take to consecrate your purposes at Yale and after. “The essential aims of life are present naturally in every person. In everyone there is some longing for humanity’s rightful dignity, for moral integrity, for free expression of being and a sense of transcendence over the world of existence. Yet, at the same time, each person is capable, to a greater or lesser degree, of coming to terms with living within the lie. Each person somehow succumbs to a profane trivialization of his or her inherent humanity, and to utilitarianism. In everyone there is some willingness to merge with the anonymous crowd and to flow comfortably along with it down the river of pseudo-life. This is much more than a simple conflict between two identities. It is something far worse: it is a challenge to the very notion of identity itself.” The herd ever threatens to regain its evil primacy, and we are bombarded with a relentless propaganda of materialism that has taken a great toll on the moral quality of our lives. Let me say again that I do not suggest that you will be faced in your four years at Yale, or hopefully thereafter, with the choices to which the pursuit of truth brought Socrates or Vaclav Havel. But I do say that the pursuit of truth in the light of freedom is a challenge of character quite as much as intellect. And I say with considerable pride that I believe Yale is as good a setting and as good a society for you to develop in yourselves the great values of liberal learning (as you are likely to find). This magnificent responsibility now falls to you. Then, let us make the most of our time at Yale together."