The University of Chicago president to whom McLuhan first pitched his idea of truth-seeking "centers" around 1946 — the dialogue-clinic proposal (drawn from Giedion) that failed at Chicago and, later, at Toronto. In Cameron and Bob's account Hutchins marks the first refusal of a plan McLuhan kept renewing. New to it — start with dialogue 18 for the proposal named and dated.
Across the dialogues
Enters as the recipient of McLuhan's 1946 proposal — the truth-seeking "centers" (out of Giedion) urged on the University of Chicago president
Cameron reconstructs McLuhan's 1946 pitch to Hutchins — truth-seeking centers (out of Giedion) whose "precipitate" is that people can know and apply truth, against a present that reduces everything to power.
"human beings can know truth and can apply truth."Cameron McEwen, The Resonant Interval, Dialogue 17 (11 Mar 2021), 1:11:22
The proposal named and dated — McLuhan's letter naming Voegelin and Gilson, the plan that failed at Chicago as it later failed at Toronto
Bob dates McLuhan's proposal to Hutchins (~1946) and his 1950s Toronto seminar — dialogue as the fusing of professional perspectives into a collective program.
"bringing together people with expertise and goodwill"Bob Dobbs, The Resonant Interval, Dialogue 18 (18 Mar 2021), 39:48
Cameron cites McLuhan's letter to Hutchins naming the people the plan needed — Voegelin and Gilson — and arguing the situation "dire enough" to justify hiring them away.
"Voegelin in political science and Gilson in theology"Marshall McLuhan, read by Cameron McEwen, The Resonant Interval, Dialogue 18 (18 Mar 2021), 40:29
Connections
As University of Chicago president (~1946) Hutchins received McLuhan's proposal for truth-seeking "centers," the plan that failed there.
The "centers" McLuhan urged on Hutchins were "taken right from Giedion."