Although he is an agnostic Jew and avowed humanist, Bloom identifies the problem on campus as the loss of absolute truth as the ground for intellectual inquiry, moral integrity and cultural vitality. Once it is accepted that truth is relative, Bloom says, anything goes on the campus. In the absence of absolute truth, he argues, there are no standards for scholarly pursuit, cultural excellence, community values or personal integrity. Regrettably, Bloom's diagnosis is better than his prescription. Finding truth in the absolutes of Platonic idealism, he calls for a renaissance of community on campus in pursuit of those ideals.
College campuses are also the moral testing grounds for the larger culture.
While frequently accused of being morally lax, the college campus actually reflects, often in advance, the changing morals of the society. At the opening of the 1990s, for example, colleges were debating condom dispensers, drug testing and date rape. At the same time students reversed earlier trends toward free sex, pot parties and alcohol bashes. Moral trends on campus are always unpredictable. The moral temperature of the campus climate cannot be easily forecasted.