Mission of the University

Abstract

IN an eapr work, “The Revolt of the Masses”, Seftrtega singles out as one of the most da Selpus phenomena of our times the deliberate EefiSal on the part of the masses to shoulder the enormous burden imposed by the increasing specialization of knowledge. As a result, European man has become atomized, and the nineteenth century universities have added to the disintegration by producing “The new barbarian, the professional man”. In the present essay, the university is called upon to undertake the work of re-integration. To do this, the university must be completely remodelled, and the most valuable part of the essay consists in a rather sketchy draft of how this is to be done. The new university will be an institute for higher education for the ordinary man. Its core will be a faculty of culture where every student will receive an education designed to put him "at the heightaof the times", that is, familiar with the vital system of ideas of the period. This education is to be a synthesis of physics (more widely conceived than is usual in Britain), biology, history, sociology and philosophy. In addition, he would be trained "by the most economical, direct and efficient methods"to be a good professional.

Mission of the University

By José Ortegay Gasset. Translated with an Introduction by Howard Lee Nostrand. (International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction.) Pp. v + 81. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd., 1946.) 7s. 6d. net.