Keywords

Arthur Henry King, Shakespeare, King Lear, Brigham Young University

Abstract

“The social sciences should not exist. And I'm grateful that there are people in the social sciences working to destroy them.” This statement might easily be dismissed as rash and unjustified were the author not a world-class scholar, the quality of whose life-long study serves as an invitation to consider his reasons for making such a declaration. If, in the end, we cannot concur with Dr. Arthur Henry King's verdict on the ultimate value of the social sciences, might not his analysis of its problems give us a new perspective from which we might reevaluate it? Perhaps there is something in his critique that might lead toward better ways of achieving those ends most precious to us. This paper is the result of research I conducted in 1992 on a class taught by King entitled "The Rhetorical Truth of King Lear." This is one of the last classes King taught, and as an educational researcher, I considered this an excellent opportunity to investigate the dynamics of his classroom in light of his philosophy and approach to education.