Mission of the University

by José Ortega y Gasset

In 1930, the great Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset set forth a program for reforming the modern Spanish university. Aware that the missions of the university are many and often competing, Ortega built his program around a conception of a "general culture" that knows no national boundaries or time limits and could fit into any national system of higher education. His ideas are especially pertinent to contemporary debate in America over curriculum development and the purpose of education. In this volume Ortega sought to answer two essential what is the knowledge most worth knowing by all students and what is the function of the university in a modern democracy? Basing his answers on his own deep personal culture and an extensive knowledge of the various European university systems, Ortega defined four primary the teaching of the learned professions, the fostering of scientific research, training for political leadership, and finally the creation of cultured persons with the ability to make intellectual interpretations of the world. Ortega's understanding of "general culture" is set out in great detail here. He meant an active engagement in ideas and issues that were both historical and contemporary. His concern is with the classical problems of justice, the good society, who should rule, and the responsibilities of citizenship. In his informative and brilliant introduction to this new edition, Clark Kerr, a lifetime student of Ortega's work, analyzes Ortega's ideas in their historical context and speculates on how the great issues he dealt with here can be made contemporary for modern students facing the challenges and uncertainties of the twenty-first century. Mission of the University and its new opening essay will be of interest to educationists, social scientists, and above all the students of this era.

Genres: Philosophy, Education, Nonfiction

110 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1930

About the author

José Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.

Reviews

[Kamakana · Rating 3 out of 5]

031215: i have never myself desired to be an academic, though i do enjoy ideas, intellectual, conceptual- and some degree of teaching, but it is interesting to read ortega from some history. writing just six years before Franco, he is interesting as a 'liberal elitist', and his conception of the university to be organized in two: in teaching professions, in researching subjects. my father retired as theoretical chemist after thirty years, had taught some grad courses, had finally even taught some undergrad- but was energized by contact with students, not exhausted, so ortega's model would not appeal too strongly. but, for subjects at an undergrad level father would recommend colleges, for your instructor is not distracted by research...

[Lucas Ezequiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es breve y concisa, Lorca demuestra la opresion y las costumbres a la que la mujer debia verse sometida para guardar las apariencias y soportar una vida triste e infeliz. Aunque habia personajes algo "liberales" quedaron opacados por Yerma.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved his take on how to educate the university student. His audience was in Spain, but the principles I think are universal. His take on the empirical German system which we adopted in America is fascinating.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE SPANISH PHILOSOPHER POSES THIS QUESTION

José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) was a Spanish philosopher and essayist. He wrote in the introductory section of this 1930 book, “The Federación Universitaria Escolar of Madrid asked me to give a lecture on some topic related to the reforms of higher education. The very poor acoustics of the Paraninfo, however, prevented me from developing adequately the theme of my lecture. This circumstance prompted me afterward to rewrite somewhat more simply the notes I had taken with me… And here you have the result. It will be seen that except for an introduction… I have kept rigorously to what I consider the crucial question.”

In the first chapter, he states, “I say, then, that the circumstances offer a magnificent opportunity for a thorough reform of the Spanish state and university. But the reform of the one and of the other waits to be done by SOMEONE. Is there such a one in Spain today? By that I do not mean an individual, of course, one of those mythical creatures usually referred to, by a misapprehension, as a Great Man. History is not made by one man---however great he may be. History is not like a sonnet; nor is it a game of solitaire. It is made by many people: by groups of people endowed, collectively, with the necessary qualities.” (Pg. 17)

He observes, “Today, the societies in Europe are governed by the bourgeois classes, whose majority is composed of professional men. It is of the first importance to these societies, therefore, that these professional people, aside from their several professions, possess the power to make their lives a vital influence, in harmony with the height of their times. Hence it is imperative to set up once more, in the university, the teaching of the culture, the system of vital ideas, which the age has attained. This is the basic function of the university. This is what the university must be, above all else.” (Pg. 40)

He admits, “Have we answered our question, What is the mission of the university? By no means: we have only massed together what the university of today believes to be its business, and one thing which, in our judgment, it is not doing but must do. We have prepared the question: no more than that.” (Pg. 43)

He suggests, “The conclusion seems to me inescapable, that we must turn the present university upside down, so to speak, and stand it upon precisely the opposite principle. Instead of teaching what OUGHT to be taught, according to some utopian desire, we must teach only what CAN be taught; that is, what CAN BE LEARNED.” (Pg. 45)

He asserts, “The trend toward a university dominated by ‘inquiry’ has been disastrous. It has led to the elimination of the prime concern: culture. It has deflected attention from the problem of how to best train future professionals for their professions.” (Pg. 64)

He states, “We are passing at present… through an age of terrific UN-CULTURE. Never perhaps has the ordinary man been so far below his times and what they demand of him. Never has the civilized world so abounded in falsified, cheated lives. Almost nobody is poised squarely upon his proper and authentic place in life. Man is habituated to living on subterfuges with which he deceives himself, conjuring up around him a very simple and arbitrary world, in spite of the admonitions of an active conscience which forces him to observe that his real world, the world that corresponds to the whole of actuality, is one of enormous complexity and grim urgency. But… he is afraid to admit this real world, which would make great demands on him. He prefers to falsify his life, and keep it sealed up in the cocoon of his fictitious, oversimplified concept of the world.” (Pg. 74-75)

This book will be of great interest to anyone studying Ortega and the development of his thought.

[Nesssstor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me ha gustado mucho la lectura y tengo ideas bastantes afines a lo leído. Pienso
que es positivo que se enfoque la universidad, y no solo esta, si no la enseñanza,
en una formación como persona, no como un mero obrero del estado. Pues
actualmente he sentido por mi experiencia que se nos trata como si fuéramos
futuros profesionales (que también), antes que futuros pensadores. Y no me
refiero a pensadores, como meros filósofos, aunque todos los somos, si no gente
que no se deje engañar, que sea fiel a sus principios, que sepa cuáles son sus
virtudes y sus verdaderos valores y no deje que nadie nunca los modele con animo
de lucro, pues pienso que esto me haría mejor persona, haría mejor persona al
estudiante y por ende un mejor mundo. Pues actualmente pienso que la educación
esta muy dirigida (y todo por las familias que la financian (“la cosa nostra del plan
Bolonia”) para crear a una mano de obra decapitada, sin mente alguna, sin ninguna
capacidad de liderazgo, y como consecuencia la imposibilidad de una reacción, de
un cambio.
En conclusión, pienso que el fin que debería perseguir la universidad, estando de
acuerdo con la eminencia de Ortega, es formar a personas criticas al nivel de su
tiempo, y no solo a profesionales, pues si eres persona primero y sabes quién eres,
serás el mejor profesional, porque solo será tu profesión y no tu vida

[Ugur Parakoz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mine was translated by Howard Lee Nostrand, and he has also written an introduction; which was terribly long and mostly unnecessary. I am not right now in a point to be interested about education, so I have read only half the book but I don't think that there is any original idea in it up to where I stopped.

[Pedro Jesus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este libro te inmiscuye en la visión que Ortega y Gasset tiene de la universidad, y como no podría ser de otra forma va mucho más allá. No dejará a nadie indiferente.

[Derrick Jeter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ortega's "Mission of the University" was first published in 1930, but is just as relevant today as it was 83 years ago. Ortega argues that the primary purpose of the university is the educate ordinary students to be cultured/enlightened people and to prepare them for the real world of professional life. He argues against the trend that a university eduction should produce scientists, those engaged in investigatory pursues as a profession. Culture, according to Ortega, consists of those vital elements that make up life: the practice of medicine, law, business, government, education, art. Science, on the other hand, consists of non-vital elements of life: discovering truths about medicine, law, business, government, eduction, art. The difference is in the living. As he puts it: "Science is not something by which we live. If the physicist had to live by the ideas of his science, you may res assured that he would not be so finicky as to wait for some other investigator to complete his research a century or so later. He would renounce the hope of a complete scientific solution, and fill in, with approximate or probable anticipations, what the rigorous corpus of physical doctrine lacks at present, and in part, always will lack.... Science is indifferent to he exigencies of our life, and follows its own necessities."

What Ortega decried in 1930 (and would decry today) is that the university is trying to produce scientists, since it requires of its professors not to educate as much as do research. But life isn't made up of science, of the disciple to always ask questions and prove hypothesis, but of those who practice the arts of culture. And in this, I think Ortega's book is a needed reminder of the university's mission.

[iván · Rating 3 out of 5]

lectura prescrita de la uni pero la verdad que estaba bien (aunque me molesta el ligero undertone hegeliano de lo que me esta contando)

[Alvaro Alcocer Sotil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ortega y Gasset resume en este libro su erudición y expresa su punto de vista de lo que debería ser la universidad. Hace hincapié en la diferencia de un especialista, un científico y un charlatán, aunque piensa que todos deberían saber de todo un poco. Pone en muy alto el valor de las ciencias sin dejar de lado el papel de las mal llamadas humanidades. Sin duda en el Perú hay muy pocas universidades que siquiera se acercan a la concepción del autor.

[Donald Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick but very important read. Though aged quite a bit, still has quite a lot of import for higher education today and the mission that is all the more confused at the present time than it was back when Ortega wrote it. A must read for anyone in higher education today.

[Regina Ramírez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yerma es una obra dramática la cual me pareció interesante el papel se Yerma, quien no podía tener hijos ya que el esposo quien me pareció muy machista no quería y quería tenerla encerrada, siendo él el causante de su desgracia.

[Greyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't agree with all of it, but it's worth reading as a reminder of the ever-present issues that plague both K12 and HE systems.

[Vego · Rating 5 out of 5]

JAQUE MATE

[Alejandro López Salazar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diría que es interesante ver como pensaba este hombre pero no es un tema tan trascendental. Aún así aporta una nueva perspectiva.

[SirriCan · Rating 4 out of 5]

babaaa büyüksün