The Ideal of Humanization and
the Role of Universities
Páll Skúlason
March 3, Edinburgh
Overview
I. An Ethical Approach
II. The European University
III. Why and How We have Failed
IV. The Task Ahead
An Ethical Approach
Perspectives
on the University
• Community
– academic and human values
• Institution
– dedicated to the advancement of public
good
• Organisation
– to be managed and operated in an effective
and efficient manner
An Ethical Approach
Ethical Domain:
 Moral rules and principles
 Virtues and vices
 Values like solidarity, friendship, freedom
The Ethical Endeavor:
 To discover and to do what is just, right and
good
 Thoughtlessness: a most serious vice
An Ethical View of the University
The university is a community of teachers
and students whose steady purpose is
the acquisition, preservation and
transmission of knowledge in the service
of humanity/mankind.
 Moral rules and principles
 Virtues and vices
 Values
Two Questions for reflection
What kind of world – ver-öld – is in
the making?
The present Crisis: Does our society
have the inherent possibilities to
become a good place for our grandchildren and future generations?
Who are we, human beings?
 We are thinking, self-conscious individuals
 We are Scots, Icelanders ...
 We are members of the human species
(globalisation)
8
Why Universities have survived
• We are self-conscious, thinking beings:
Ideas, beliefs, reasons and views are the raw
materials out of which our existence as
thinking beings is made.
• The university is the only institution that,
through the centuries, has focused upon this
basic fact of human existence
The Main Question for us, the
Educators
Are we preparing our students to deal properly, as
reflective and thinking beings, with their lifeproblems?
Have we made adequate effort to answer this
question?
Why did our graduates fail in leading the companies
and institutions they were trusted with?
Problems-of life – different values
To live with oneself: What is true and right,
good and beautiful?
Organize our life in common: What should be
forbidden?
Economic tasks: What is possible?
11
The
European university
The European University
Three different academic traditions:
The German tradition (Humboldt) science
The French tradition (Napoleon) nation
The British tradition (Newman) individual student
New problems
• The institutions have been asked to
provide more services to the society
without getting more financial support
• They also have to earn their keep by
fulfilling specific easily identifiable
demands made by the academic and
educational market
Economic globalisation and
academic globalisation
Globalisation of things and
phenomena which can be bought with
money
Globalisation of knowledge (ideas,
thoughts and theories, and perhaps
visions)
Why and how
we have failed
The three missions of serving
• The Sciences
• The Nation
• The Individual student
put aside in favour of
• Economic interests – financial
globalisation
European universities
 have succumbed to the “technological
temptation” (successes of scientific
specialization and technological
innovation)
 must endeavour to recover the ideal of
humanization
Internal goals of education
Ethical development (behaviour, action,
decision...)
Training (read, write, calculate ...)
Dissemination of information and
understanding
Weaknesses of recent
Academic Education
Overemphasis on technical skills and
training
Instruction rather than human development
Lack of reflection and of critical discussion
Too much negative competition
Three Areas of Life-Problems
Internal life: self-knowledge and selfacceptance: Humanities, art, and literature
Social life: attitude to family, strangers,
friends, sex, authority, violence: Politics,
Morality and Law
Physical life: satisfaction of various
physiological needs, health, shelter, and
protection: Science and Technology
Business Ideology
 most human relations are, at bottom, business
relations
 earning money is the most important thing in life
 private enterprise is always more efficient than
public institutions
 competition is always good.
Humanization of the world
cultivate human relationships
concentrate on spiritual and ethical values
learn to share things
learn to work together
The Task ahead
Prioreties
Introduce reflective and critical practices
within each and every field of study
Secure proper teaching on ethical and
humanistic subjects
Reflective and Critical Thinking
On problems and issues within each field of
study – technical training
On global problems and issues inherent in
our human condition
On our conceptual frameworks for
understanding the world and ourselves
Knowledge requires
• a constant investigation into the pursuit of
knowledge itself
• reflexivity which makes inquiry an open-ended
enterprise and a self-correcting process leading in
unexpected directions
• on-going discussions on criteria and standards in the
activity of learning
Three types of knowledge
• Theoretical:
• truth, coherence, understanding
• Technical:
• Efficiency, reliability, effectiveness
• Ethical
• solidarity, friendship, freedom
Must be understood separately but be
integrated in reality
Three misunderstandings
– Ethical Knowledge is subjective (relative to my
personal feelings and my social situation)
– Theoretical Knowledge makes us more capable
of understanding moral issues
– Technological Knowledge makes us more
capable of overcoming morally unacceptable
situations
The commitment to Truth
is ethical and theoretical at the
same time, and this applies
within every discipline
The Ideal of Humanization
refers to the mission of serving not only
science, nation and the individual
student, but humanity itself by
revealing the truth about the world and
ourselves.
Thank you
for your attention!