Overview
- Questions whether and why universities need to exist at all
- Illustrates the sustaining values of the Humboldtian university outside of its original context
- Proposes a solution that renovates key themes in Humboldt's reinvention in the early 19th Century
Part of the book series: Evaluating Education: Normative Systems and Institutional Practices (ENSIP)
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
- future of the Humboldtian university
- The Enlightenment university
- Critical judgement as a goal of higher education
- The future of the academic vocation
- The unity of research and teaching in higher education
- Teaching as research translation
- Higher education as democratization
- The Western model of the modern university
- Academic knowledge as a public good
- The role of plagiarism in academic knowledge production
- The pedagogical uses of historical consciousness
- The history and philosophy of higher education
- Original Humboldtian Context
- Humboldtian Vision
- Academic Professionalism
- Future in the Humboldtian Vision
About this book
This volume addresses the central question facing the future of higher education around the world, whether and why universities need to exist at all. This book accepts the question’s premise: It is not clear that the university is any longer needed as an institution -- that is, unless its defenders recover what had made the university the revolutionary institution that over the past two centuries has not only defined the shape of modern systematic inquiry but also the distinctiveness of the societies that have housed them. In short, what is required is a reanimation of the spirit of Wilhelm von Humboldt for our times; hence the book's title and subtitle. Humboldt was responsible for relaunching the university as the vanguard institution of 'Enlightenment' to which we continue to pay lip service – and sometimes not much more than that. Admittedly, the task of relaunching Humboldt today is made difficult because many of the concrete achievements associated with the Humboldtian university – not least academic disciplines and nation-states – are increasingly seen as problematic if not obsolete. However, the global reach of the Humboldtian vision in its 19th century and 20th century heyday offers hope that it may be recovered in the 21st century. The book focuses on the performative character of the academic vocation, what Humboldt memorably characterized as the 'unity of research and teaching' in the same person, a role model for students and society at large. The book's seven chapters develop this theme in a historically and philosophically nuanced way in terms of the Humboldtian vision of knowledge, sense of free expression and critical judgement, and commitment to translation and publicity.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Steve Fuller is Auguste Comte Professor of Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick. Originally trained in history, philosophy and sociology of science, Fuller is the author of 25 books, which most recently have covered visions of a trans- and post- human future (or ‘Humanity 2.0’) and the current post-truth condition – especially its likely impact on the university and knowledge production more generally.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Back to the University's Future
Book Subtitle: The Second Coming of Humboldt
Authors: Steve Fuller
Series Title: Evaluating Education: Normative Systems and Institutional Practices
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36327-6
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-36326-9Published: 09 July 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-36329-0Due: 09 August 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-36327-6Published: 08 July 2023
Series ISSN: 2570-0251
Series E-ISSN: 2570-026X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 171
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Higher Education, Educational Philosophy, Educational Policy and Politics