Contemporary Philosophical Proposals for the University : Toward a Philosophy of Higher Education

Front Matter ....Pages i-xxi Introduction: Toward a Philosophy of Higher Education (Aaron Stoller, Eli Kramer)....Pages 1-23 Front Matter ....Pages 25-25 Postmodern Worldmaking and the Unanimous Academy (Crispin Sartwell)....Pages 27-45 Neoliberalism, Technology, and the University: Max Weber’s Concept of Rationalization as a Critique of Online Classes in Higher Education (Gabriel Keehn, Morgan Anderson, Deron Boyles)....Pages 47-66 Promoting More than Just “Diversity” at Colleges and Universities (Dwayne A. Tunstall)....Pages 67-77 Front Matter ....Pages 79-79 En Route: Toward a Philosophy and Practice of Liberal Education (L. Jackson Newell)....Pages 81-102 The Conversation of a University (George Allan)....Pages 103-122 Front Matter ....Pages 123-123 Culture and the University: An Ecological Approach (Ronald Barnett)....Pages 125-144 Education for Citizenship in an Era of Global Connection (Martha Nussbaum)....Pages 145-159 An African Theory of the Point of Higher Education: Communion as an Alternative to Autonomy, Truth, and Citizenship (Thaddeus Metz)....Pages 161-186 Front Matter ....Pages 187-187 Remaking the Academy: The Potential and the Challenge of Transdisciplinary Collaborative Engagement (Danielle Lake, Amy McFarland, Jessica Jennrich)....Pages 189-214 Front Matter ....Pages 215-215 The Coming Revolution in (Higher) Education: Process, Time, and Singularity (Randall Auxier)....Pages 217-260 Back Matter ....Pages 261-268 Dedication 5 Preface 6 Acknowledgments 10 Contents 11 Notes on Contributors 14 Chapter 1: Introduction: Toward a Philosophy of Higher Education 19 The Question of Method 23 From Theory to Praxis in Higher Education 25 Reconstruction in Philosophy of Higher Education: A Brief Review 28 The University in Culture 28 The Institutional Structure of the University 29 The Academic in Culture 30 The Aims and Structures of the Curriculum 32 Toward a Reconstructive Philosophy of Higher Education 33 Conclusion 37 Part I: The Problematic Situation: Challenges Facing Higher Education 42 Chapter 2: Postmodern Worldmaking and the Unanimous Academy 43 Linguistic Constructivism and “Political Correctness” 44 “The Postmodern View of Truth” 46 Rorty’s Pragmatism 50 Spread of an Era 52 Linguistic Constructivism and the Academy 54 Possible Developments 58 Chapter 3: Neoliberalism, Technology, and the University: Max Weber’s Concept of Rationalization as a Critique of Online Classes in Higher Education 62 Introduction 62 Weber’s Ascetic Vocationalism and Rationalization 64 Calculability and the Capitalist Spirit 70 Bureaucratic Formalism 71 Markets, Universities, and Online Learning: Rationalization Run Amok 73 Chapter 4: Promoting More than Just “Diversity” at Colleges and Universities 82 Part II: The Wellspring of Experience: Reflections on Robust Higher Education 93 Chapter 5: En Route: Toward a Philosophy and Practice of Liberal Education 94 A Prefatory Note 94 An Unanticipated Prompt3 95 A Serendipitous Opportunity 98 Seminal Influences 102 The Launch 104 Growing Consciousness of My Own Learning 105 Saluting Forerunners12 105 Distilling Spirits 110 Wrapping Up 111 Chapter 6: The Conversation of a University 116 Clutter 116 Actions 117 Practices 121 Conversation 125 Moral Universities 132 Part III: Generalization: Reconstructive Proposals for the University 136 Chapter 7: Culture and the University: An Ecological Approach 137 Introduction 137 Higher Education and Culture: The Seeming End of a Positive Idea 138 Critical Difficulties 140 Academic Culture: Glimpsing It and Losing Sight of It 142 “Culture” and “University”: A Communicative Option? 143 Keeping Culture and Reason Apart 145 The University: A Cultural Void? 145 The End of Culture in the University 146 Overcoming Squeamishness 148 An Ecological Approach 151 Conclusions 154 Chapter 8: Education for Citizenship in an Era of Global Connection 157 Chapter 9: An African Theory of the Point of Higher Education: Communion as an Alternative to Autonomy, Truth, and Citizenship 172 Introduction 172 An Afro-communal Ethic 173 Communion 174 Respect for the Capacity to Be Party to Communion 176 The Communal Final Ends of a University 178 Foster Socio-economic Well-Being 178 Promote Virtue 179 Support Culture 181 Facilitate Cooperation 182 Rectify Injustice 183 Contrasts with More Western Final Ends 184 Autonomy 184 Truth 186 Citizenship 189 Conclusion: The Relevance of Africa to Global Thought about Education 192 Part IV: Return to Experience: Reconstruction Put into Practice 198 Chapter 10: Remaking the Academy: The Potential and the Challenge of Transdisciplinary Collaborative Engagement 199 What, More Precisely, Is the Problem with the Dominant Structures, Processes, and Culture of Higher Education? 201 A Philosophy, a Movement, and a Bridge to the Collaboratively Engaged Academy 202 The Philosophy: Feminist Pragmatism 203 The Movement: A (Re)New(ed) Demand for Publicly Engaged Scholarship 205 The Bridge: Transdisciplinarity 207 Instantiating Our Commitments: Collaborative Engagement Learning Community 209 The What, Why, Where, When, and How 209 Initial Findings 211 Concluding Thoughts and Recommendations 215 Appendix 218 Part V: Future Inquiry: Higher Education in the Coming Century 225 Chapter 11: The Coming Revolution in (Higher) Education: Process, Time, and Singularity 226 Introduction 226 Part One: Metaphysics and the Future 228 Singularity? 228 Liber et Libertas 230 The Current Revolution 231 Part Two 236 Some Whiteheadian Ideas 236 Cosmic and Immediate Epochs 237 Relations Without an Entropic Burden 239 Causal Laws 241 Protonic and Electronic Life 243 Electromagnetic Occasions and Consciousness 245 Uploading Your Memory 246 The Last of the Book People 249 Nodal Existing: Actual Entity, Society, Nexus 251 Part Three 253 Intensity: Education and the New Learning 253 Higher Education 256 Index 270 This edited collection brings together a robust range of philosophers who offer theoretically and critically informed proposals regarding the aims, policies, and structures of the university. The collection fills a major gap in the landscape of higher education theory and practice while concurrently reviving a long and often forgotten discourse within the discipline of philosophy. It includes philosophers from across the globe representing disparate philosophical schools, as well as various career stages, statuses, and standpoints within the university. There is also a diversity in method, approach and style, which varies from personal narratives and case studies, to philosophical genealogies, to traditional philosophical essays, and to systematic theories. The collection can serve as a theoretical resource for critically minded administrators and faculty who wish to analyze and change policies and structures at their home institutions. It will introduce them to a wide range of possible educational imaginaries, as well as provide them with productive suggestions for pragmatic change on campuses.