The University Intellectual: Why Should We Study the Past?

Abstract

This study offers a reading into the predicament of the intellectual at university, at a time when avenues for political expression are blocked. If the role of the intellectual is a role “in crisis,” due to the dialectical intersection of the political with the epistemological, the role of the university is no less so, as it contends with the key question: Is the university a place? Or an idea? Or an intermediary? Paradoxically, the university in its current form was the culmination and triumph of modernity. But the subordination of epistemology to the hegemonic dominion of politics has caused disconnects leading to the interrogation of the accepted role of the university, from which role the institution derived its legitimacy. An additional paradox relates to the humanities, disciplines that struggled to obtain recognition as independent, stand-alone fields of knowledge, but then found themselves eclipsed by the rise of the sciences – as if the humanities do not partake of scientific inquiry. It is therefore necessary to revisit the two terms “intellectual” and “university”, if we are to grasp how the university intellectual can comprehend the past while striving to find new meaning. They are terms that, to begin with, open up the gates to an infinite number of definitions, prompting us to select those that are most critical. The study examines some definitions that can help annotate the various crises confronting the intellectual’s being, including those affecting the relationship with political authority or with the masses, as well as the identity of the university. Finally, the study presents practical examples of how to read the past in the classroom, and give it new life in the present.