Educational Philosophy and Theory 41 (5):553-574 (2009)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
This paper puts forward the model of 'microcosm-macrocosm' isomorphism encapsulated in certain philosophical views on the form of university education. The human being as a 'microcosm' should reflect internally the external 'macrocosm'. Higher Education is a socially instituted attempt to guide human beings into forming themselves as microcosms of the whole world in its diversity. By getting to know the surrounding world, they re-enact it intellectually. Such a re-enacting is a guiding theme in certain philosophies of education studied here. It is with the Neo-Humanist tradition culminating in Humboldt's reforms that an additional step was taken: the university should become itself the reflecting 'microcosm'. This role is nowadays taken up by unconventional LLE, though with far-reaching changes. The paper is divided into four interconnected Sections each one developing a specific manifestation of the micro-macro relationship. The main thesis is that: (I) contemporary schemes of never-ending higher education or of so-called 'transformative learning' and of 'universities-multiversities' have their intellectual underpinnings either in similarity or in direct contrast to specific predecessors. Inherent tensions found in these predecessors have left their mark on this micro-macrocosmic model to the extent that it is present in them; (II) the proposed analysis in terms of this model enhances significantly our in-depth understanding of some latent aspects in current trends in LLE and related innovative university schemes; at the same time this model helps us structure appropriately and without anachronisms our humanisticly-inspired critical response to them for abandoning the ideal of the 'wholeness' of the human person.
|
Keywords | Bildung Lifelong Education micro‐macrocosm Humboldt university humanism |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2008.00431.x |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.John Locke - 1689 - London, England: Oxford University Press.
The Post-Modern Condition: A Report on Knowledge.J. F. Lyotard - 1985 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 63:520.
View all 22 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
No citations found.
Similar books and articles
Randomly Constituting Representative Deliberative Assemblies: Dewey and Fishkin on the Microcosm Concept.Shane J. Ralston - unknown
Realizing the University in an Age of Supercomplexity.Ronald Barnett - 2000 - Society for Research Into Higher Education & Open University Press.
Theories of Macrocosms and Microcosms in the History of Philosophy.George Perrigo Conger - 1922 - New York: Russell & Russell.
Trusting in the University: The Contribution of Temporality and Trust to a Praxis of Higher Learning.Paul T. Gibbs - 2004 - Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Beyond the Modern University: Toward a Constructive Postmodern University.Marcus Peter Ford - 2002 - Praeger.
Internationalising the University.Suzy Harris - 2008 - Educational Philosophy and Theory 40 (2):346–357.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2009-01-28
Total views
44 ( #259,198 of 2,519,267 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1 ( #407,861 of 2,519,267 )
2009-01-28
Total views
44 ( #259,198 of 2,519,267 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1 ( #407,861 of 2,519,267 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads