The Idea of A University

When John Henry Newman gave his series of lectures to a series of audiences at Dublin University, he was setting out his view as to what a Liberal education should be. Those who sought such an education should see themselves as gentlemen intellectuals who might seek a specific career only after they achieved their University degree. For those who wished a specific trade or vocation, there were plenty of schools for that--but Newman's University would not be one of them. In his The Idea of a University, he sets out his vision of both the student and the school that could churn out those who loved knowledge for its own sake. In short, such graduates would be multiple copies of himself. Newman anticipates the objections of future generations of parents of students who wish to study the liberal arts. First, he suggests that the very nature of any university ought to foster the pursuit of any legitimate field of study, liberal arts or otherwise. Second, the notion of "liberal" is one that has achieved an unfortunate connotation of elite inutility. What is liberal about the mind and soul is that it inculcates a set of values that far transcends that which a trade might offer. Rather than focusing one's efforts on the mere acquisition of things material, which do nothing to make one a better person by their mere presence, liberal arts change the man within and make him the better for that. Third, the ardent study of liberal arts is a subset of the general pursuit of Knowledge, which is an end worthwhile in itself. Fourth, those who study liberal arts tend to think of their school as a place where they receive education rather than instruction. The former implies that minds are opened to the infinite space of all that the human mind may accomplish while the latter closes those minds to admit only tricks and devices that lead to the growth of money and material things, neither of which makes the man the better by their mere possession. Finally, since the stated aim of a liberal education is the sheer pleasure that results, it follows that a course of instruction that leads to a trade must also lead to things that relate to that trade rather than to any sense of inner contentment that is concomitant with liberal education. For those critics of a liberal education who carp that such an education has not transformed its graduates into paragons of moral virtue, Newman would respond that such a transformation--however desirable--was never a goal of liberal studies in the first place. Just as liberal studies is not intended to turn out cads and bounders neither is it at the other end of moral spectrum obliged to create a higher level of human being. Education, to John Henry Newman, was a term that ought to mean more than a passive acceptance of facts, data, and statistics. He had a particular horror at the thought of a society whose knowledge base consisted exclusively of those whose learning was a function of how rapidly they

The book is in excellent shape; tight binding, clean pages, and delivered promptly. Thank you.

This edition of Newman's classic is greatly enhanced by copious endnotes pertaining to the first half, the nine discourses--if you know that one pertains to what you are reading and can find it. The notes are located just before the index and coded as x.y, where x is the page number and y is the line number. For each note, I went to the corresponding page, counted the lines, and wrote the line number by the line. Then, when I was reading, I knew there was a pertinent endnote and could easily find it (especially with a bookmark amongst the notes).

Newman's work is not only an eloquent, erudite, and careful defense of the virtue of knowledge and the value of a liberal education; it is also a brilliantly reasoned and felt argument for the prevention of hubris on the part of any particular branch of knowledge.Newman's sound warnings against the overreaching of scientific fields and the triumph of smug materialism and positivism are still urgent, of course. Newman is also careful to point out that the liberal arts and even theology may attempt to establish a single, inadequate framework for the discovery of truth.Newman's complex epistemology does not fall prey to the heresy that truth is not one, but reminds us that in our present state, truth present various aspects and that the tyranny of any particular branch of knowledge is the victory of ignorance.

A strong case can be made that Englishman John Henry (Cardinal) Newman reinvented the religious univeristy in the 19th century and that most such universities, regardless of their denomination, functioned quite well until the computer age. Now, with all universities being forced to rethink their own identity and mission, the values which Newman enuntiated for them over 100 years ago will return to guide their reinvention in our own day. Or, they can return, if they are given the chance. Yale University is to be commended for putting Newman's ideas on the university back on the table in such a splendid format. Every aspect of this work deserves praise, from the editor's introduction and special footnotes, to the analytical essays which merit a careful reading in their own right. I did a complete review of this excellent work in "National Catholic Register" 9-15 Feb. 1997, p. 6. I recommend this book highly for this who need to understand and apply Newman's vision of the university.