Το αίτημα της αυτονομίας στο νεότερο ευρωπαϊκό πανεπιστήμιο: ιστορικές και πολιτικές διαστάσεις

Abstract

The formation of modern european university can be considered as a longrun consequence of interconnected historical processes, the origins of which are to be traced back to the late Middle Ages and to the beginnings of Modern Times. Despite the fact that the intellectual and religious currents of that period exerted a remarkable influence on universities, the latter soon entered into a phase of administrative decline, translated into a gradual loss of autonomy and to an increasing dependence upon secular and religious authorities. This evolution was transformed into an unceasing process of institutional destabilization, which was definitively reversed only in the age of Humboldtian reforms: Modern european universities are in fact a product of modernity in its enlightened version. This was a vision of a practical institutional reality, able to fulfil the ideal of cognitive and moral unity of mankind once the universality of knowledge could be assured. It can be undoubtedly argued that the emergence of contemporary university presupposes the creation of an autonomous institutional structure for intellectual activities, which recently have been regarded as co-terminous with the modern, research-oriented university. In this perspective, the principle of autonomy underlines the sine-qua non condition of its existence. It is argued that only this normative commitment can guarantee the primary university’s mission: The freedom to pursue its fundamental function of advancing and transmitting independent and objective knowledge.