One frustration that feeds some of the conservative exasperation with campus progressives who insist on closing themselves off from non-liberal viewpoints can be traced to the shared experience of encountering almost nothing but liberal viewpoints during our time in college. Conservatives who graduated from liberal universities were forced to confront the ideas of their philosophical opposites on a near-daily basis for four years. Consequently, most understand the value of engaging with disagreement and are frustrated that campus activists justify depriving themselves of an experience that they know firsthand can be so productive.

In a recent conversation with economist Tyler Cowen, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., persuasively articulated the argument for engagement. Cowen and Sasse were discussing why the senator chose to tangle for so long with Rousseau’s Emile. Here’s how Sasse answered: