The university: a social technology for producing universal knowledge

Abstract

This paper offers a broad-scale perspective on the university as a social technology for the production of universal knowledge, centered at first around two basic questions: If universal knowledge exists, why doesn’t everyone have access to it? If knowledge were made truly universal, how would it change? These questions are stated from the perspectives of philosophy and policy, followed by a consideration of two proposed sets of answers: the university as a civic republican church, and as a catalyst for movements in society at large. The contemporary disintegration of universality in the university is then related to the disaggregation of three historic functions: teaching, research, and service—a view that is supplemented by observations on the threat of market forces to future university autonomy. Finally, in a speculative conclusion, the possible end of the university is considered in relation to the fate of higher education and research in the great Eastern empires of the past.