Abstract
This chapter examines the role of universities in shaping new society. The new society has already been given several names—the society of planned change, the cybernetic society, the knowledge society, the postindustrial society. Knowledge acquired at the university is characterized by its obsolescence—that is, it gradually loses its value and is replaced by fresh knowledge progressively with the advance of science that calls its own discoveries into question. In modern society, therefore, knowledge is not looked upon as something acquired once and for all. Learning is no longer regarded as a treasure, an inheritance accumulated in youth, a capital on which to live for the rest of one's days. Knowledge acquired today seems to be more in the nature of a current account that may be drawn on provided the payments into it never cease. What is called into question is modern society's ability to use its scientific potential for universal promotion, for the freedom of all groups and nations. Scientists are beginning to doubt their own abilities and their collective experiences. The principle of social rationality has so far directed development in the Western world, yet today that principle comes under fire from all sides, and universities are held responsible inasmuch as they contribute to the implanting of the values underlying that rationality.
Published Version
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