University and Perennialism

Jaspers's University and Perennialism

The previous chapter ended with Jaspers’s account of the university as the intellectual conscience of an era. This chapter works through his post-war book The Idea of the University, his careful account of what counts as knowledge, the standard criticisms of his system, and the transition to the four major educational theories of modern educational philosophy. The chapter closes with perennialism, the first of those four.

The Idea of the University

Jaspers’s 1946 book on what a university should be in the aftermath of a world war that had nearly destroyed the university’s values

Jaspers on the Nature of Knowledge

The three marks of scientific knowledge (methodical, certain, generally valid) and how scientific knowledge differs from philosophical conviction

Criticisms of Jaspers

The vague curriculum, the charge of intellectual aristocracy, and the disagreement over whether teaching and research really are inseparable

The Four Educational Theories

Perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, and reconstructionism, the four philosophies that shape modern educational thought

Perennialism and Education

The cultivation of intellect, the everlasting principles, the teacher-centred classroom, and why liberal subjects come before vocational ones