ISI Students Are Absurd

During the summer of 2014, I went to an ISI conference in Colorado Springs on “Liberty and Equality.” The grounds were incredible: a lake under Pikes Peak, a 5-star resort, and a free weekend stay at the $600-per-night Broadmoor Hotel. The academic discussion was stellar: UCCS’ Joshua Dunn and AEI’s Tim Carney moderated conversations on Harrison Bergeron and Tocqueville’s Democracy, and Hillsdale’s Bradley Birzer closed with inspiring stories about Ronald Reagan.

But of all things that stuck out to me about my first conference with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), it’s this: ISI students are absurd.

First, who would road trip from the West Coast or fly out from the East Coast on their own dime, to sit indoors all day discussing philosophy with fellow college students? Second, what kind of political future do people hope to have if they spend their free time meeting people who already see the world the same way? Third, who would waste a summer vacation traveling somewhere that you have to prepare by reading 200 pages and getting all dressed to impress?

1. What is the point of getting together to discuss crazy ideas?

Einstein once remarked: “If at first, an idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it.” At the surface level, a lot of historically conservative ideals sound bizarre to Millennials who have drunk the Kool-aid of post-modern liberalism, especially at universities that encourage The Closing of the American Mind. Truly, something special is happening when young adults convene to fervently discuss pairs of ideas that seem absurd matches to their peers: responsibility amid liberty, rule of law via limited government, traditional values guiding a free-market economy. But the average age at an ISI gathering is not unlike that of other student movements that have changed the world: the bold protests at Tiananmen Square, the underground seminary in Nazi-occupied Finkenwalde, and the slavery abolition movement in 18th-century Britain. These students have the chutzpah to achieve incredible objectives amid jeering and derision. But let’s not forget: they’re in good company. 1800 years ago, Tertullian proclaimed the crucifixion and the ascension of Jesus Christ plausible precisely because these phenomena were, at the time, absurd:

“The Son of God was crucified and not ashamed, because it is shameful. The death of the Son of God is completely believable, because it is silly. The resurrection of the Son of God is certain, because it is impossible.”

This mental construct is known as the credo quia absurdum – “I believe because it is absurd.” We’ve had the past two millennia to accumulate for more evidence that truth is stranger than fiction. And maybe ISI students are doing it right precisely because they dare to explore the absurd.

2. ISI students march to the beat of a post-modern drum.

In a day and age where much more time is spent rallying the base than debating opponents, it’s important to learn how to speak to the hearts and minds of everyone you think is already on your team. In The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis recognizes the power of like-minded association that such conferences can organize and leverage:

“Alone among unsympathetic companions, I hold certain views and standards timidly, half ashamed to avow them and half doubtful if they can after all be right. Put me back among my friends and in half an hour – in ten minutes – these same views and standards become once more indisputable. The opinion of this little circle, while I am in it, outweighs that of a thousand outsiders…”

Yet precisely because of this tendency for individual humility to morph into corporate pride, Lewis also deemed it “healthy that [conspiring acquaintances] should have a lively sense of each other’s absurdity”. So, it’s appropriate in such a conference setting for me to call out a fellow Intercollegiate Review blogger for his questionable interpretation of Rerum Novarum as promoting capitalism more than philanthropy. We’re on the same team, pares cum paribus, but the diversity of thought and experience does not preclude others from calling me out on hoping for revival of Tocqueville’s intensely participatory democracy through restoration of family structure before education reform. At the end of the day, opinions may have diverged more than converged as discussants labored over a proposition reductio ad absurdum. But we are all better for it.

3. What is the point of dogged preparation and getting dressed to impress?

Cervantes said it best: “In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd.” Better men and women than me have already established that the judgment of peers does not win at the end of the day, that mob-mentality groupthink and following the masses will produce average results at best. So how are we to pursue the absurd in hopes of realizing the impossible? How then shall we live?

From where I’m sitting, my peers have a good start; they already know how to balance the absurdity of modernity with the wisdom of antiquity:

• We get our news from Stephen Colbert but our values from the Bible and Aristotle
• We get our comedic relief from BuzzFeed but our belly-laughs from Enlightenment philosophers
• We stream music with Pandora for parties, but our most-used station is “Classical Complete Performances”
• We watch our favorite shows on Netflix, but spend more time with the truly epic Homer and Dante
• We have Facebook for friending and Tinder for flirting, yet know when to turn off our smartphones for good, old-fashioned fun

So what if you think ISI students are absurd?

We’re changing the world (for the better), we’re sharpening each other (to fight the good conservative fight), and we’re (slowly but surely) achieving the impossible.

Are you an undergrad? Join some of the best and brightest students and leading scholars to discuss the role of the state in promoting economic growth and freedom. This conference also includes a wine tour and wine tasting. Learn more and Register here!