Everyone applauds the pursuit of excellence, but the major kinds of political ethics agree that it cannot be an affair of the state because that would be an infringement of autonomy. Civil rights, to be sure, must guarantee individual freedom, but economic arrangements inevitably are conducive to a certain kind of life. Capitalist society as it now exists favors a life of consumption that renders bodies and minds slack and distended. We have to take responsibility for this state of affairs and

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... hange it so that it encourages the pursuit of excellence whose standards are not really controversial. Education and higher education in particular, has a special opportunity and responsibility in helping to bring about such a reform.