Abstract
The idea of a university is, ever since Humboldt, synonymous with ‘the examplary life form’. Here, the search for truth should be combined with an ambition to live a correct life. It is doubtful if Humboldt's idea of a university ever materialized, but it is nevertheless a regulative ideal of a rational society which within itself also contains the value of science and of education.
The four imperatives of Humboldt's idea of a university are discussed: They are (1) the unity of research and teaching, (2) the unity of the various empirical sciences achieved through philosophy, once the queen of the sciences, (3) the unity of science and general upbringing (Bildung), and (4) the unity of science and universal enlightenment. There are tensions with regard to each one of these unities in the modern world, and the modern university has lost the ‘extravagant’ position that it once occupied. It is argued in the end, however, that the greatest challenge for the modern university is to retain the spirit of the four imperatives, and seek to embody them in new, and modern forms.
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An earlier version of this article appeared in Studies of Higher Education and Research 1991(1), a newsletter distributed by the Swedish Council for Studies of Higher Education. We are grateful to the Council for permission to publish this revised version.
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Bertilsson, M. From university to comprehensive higher education: on the widening gap between ‘Lehre und Leben’. High Educ 24, 333–349 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00128450
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00128450