Knowledge Reflection And Social Construction Of University Idea

The idea of Chinese university is facing a crisis of change, the essence of which is the problem that the existing idea of university is incompatible with social transformation and knowledge evolvement. Based on "knowledge" and "sociality"-the two basic attributes of university, this study establishes a three-dimensional analytical framework of "social transformation, knowledge evolvement and the change of idea" by mainly adopting the basic theories and methods of knowledge sociology: interpreting the idea of university from the perspective of "knowledge"(the essential factor of university) evolvement, witnessing the development and response of the idea of university based on "social transformation", a turning point of knowledge development in human history and seeing through the idea of university from the dynamic development of relations.The game between knowledge and sociality of university runs throughout the contradictory movement of the idea of university. The logic unity of these two attributes depends on human beings, the subject, which constitutes the four elements of the idea of university:university, knowledge, society and human beings. The connotation of the idea of university is presented in relational factors. There are driving relation and correlation between social transformation and the idea of university, the former having "impact" and "disturbance" effects on the latter and the latter having "defense" and "contribution" effects on the former. The relationship between the idea of university and knowledge is "self-consistent". Universities get relative independence for the special value of their advanced knowledge. Knowledge and society are conditions of change and representations of each other, the essence of which is the struggle for power. In the final analysis, the idea of university is the result of two-way construction of knowledge and society, with human beings as the subject and the main purpose. University education is essentially a process of achieving the common development of human beings and society through knowledge, with human beings being always the relational element of university and the unity of purpose and logic.The change of the idea of university is the process of seeking the unity of knowledge, a spiral evolvement accompanied by the "combination-division combination", "whole complete knowledge-fission between science and humanistic knowledge-knowledge integration" and "individual-society-individual" of knowledge, and a process of understanding nature as well as sense and sensibility of humanity. It is a logical development of the change of idea of university that "knowledge is unified in truth and regressed to human beings". This article traces the knowledge and social basis on which the idea of western and Chinese universities change and interprets the internal logic based on the characteristic of society and knowledge of education practice. It argues that the idea of western universities derives from the knowledge tradition with "belief and "reason" as its dual cores. It is rooted in humanistic reason in tradition and experiences an evolvement from scholastic knowledge, free knowledge to modern deconstructive knowledge. The idea of university has realized its transition towards modernization through the pursuit of unity between "reason" and "experience", while the advent of the academic capitalism marks the modern deconstruction of the idea of western universities. The idea of Chinese universities derives from the tradition of ethical knowledge with "Taoism" and "art" as its cores. The social transformation has historical particularity of "double switch" and "faultage" and the idea of university has undergone changes from knowledge integration, knowledge despotism to knowledge consumerism. The idea of university shifts its focus of attention to the instrumentalism and practicability of knowledge, which leads to the isolation between "knowledge" and "morality". Once the practicability of knowledge is controlled and used by power, the unidirectionality and weakness of scientific knowledge will project themselves more in the idea of university.The idea of university is peculiar in its logic of operation. Firstly, profound knowledge is the logical starting point of its construction. Contradiction in knowledge itself is the intrinsic reason for change of the idea of university. And knowledge activity and freedom of thought is the prerequisite to its formation. Actually, the construction of the idea of university is the process of seeking unity between knowledge logic and social logic. Secondly, social transformation is the extrinsic reason for the construction of the idea of university. Sociopolitical transformation is grafted on the idea of university through ideological change. Economic transformation is an objective condition for its construction and cultural transformation is the forerunner of its change. Thirdly, the game between society and knowledge is the power base of the construction of the idea of university. There are four patterns of its power relationships:"integration", "republican alliance", "limited distribution", and "reflexive exchange" between knowledge and society. Fourthly, that knowledge is of value is the core element of the construction of the idea of university. The essence of the conflict in the idea of university is exactly the conflict between knowledge rationalism and social rationalism, which manifests itself through the conflict between scientific knowledge and humanistic knowledge. Fifthly, the fundamental purpose of construction of the idea of university is the development of people's subjectivity. Human beings are the eternal subject of construction of the idea of university. It is the inherent requirement and general experience of the idea of university to pay attention to human's subjectivity. People first must be the rational choice in the realization of value integration and win-win of the idea of university.The idea of Chinese universities has historical particularity different from that of western universities in construction basis, cognition method, belief orientation, transition approach and morphological structure, etc. From the position and function of university in knowledge society, university is a nonprofit organization which takes social optimization as its responsibility and has functions of integrating society and serving people. It is a social ideological pioneer which makes it its mission to pursue truth and has functions of creating knowledge and leading the society. It is an academic community which takes talent cultivation as its obligation and has functions of spreading virtue and cultivating personality. To bring these functions into play, we need to build an ideological alliance amid college, knowledge and society and facilitate the broad alliance and cooperation among the idea of university, national ideals, social needs and knowledge institutions in the world. And we also need to build a people-oriented conjectural core value and reach an ideal agreement on every aspects.At last, this article gives an overview that construction of the core idea of Chinese universities meets the demand to systemize social structure. It conforms to the need of internal unity of knowledge. It also agrees with the demand of unity of human knowledge. Every university, with the consensus of key values, should understand the meaning of education. Five points should be kept in mind:knowledge, people, inherence, non-profit, and endurance. By taking into consideration the problems, positioning, features and cultural traditions of its own education, university should understand "self-consistency" between university and knowledge, "hierarchical levels" of relations between different universities and society, and people's "choice" of rational understanding of university. Therefore, in a deeper level will university coordinate the relationship among knowledge, society and people. And the core idea of university of different features will be constructed.