Cross-Examining Western Thinking

Abstract

Earlier this month, it emerged that a Ramsay Centre-funded degree at the University of Sydney could be rebadged ‘western tradition’ rather than ‘western civilisation’. The course has attracted controversy after the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation - a conservative institute that counts former Coalition prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott among its board members – offered millions to fund courses on “great books” that promote “an interest in and awareness of western civilisation”.