On The Cultural Mission Of The Modern University

The cultural mission of university is a fundamental issue connected with the positioning of the university's value. With the rapid development of science and technology, the utilitarian tendency has become more and more serious, which weakens the cultural function of university day by day. At the same time, under the circumstances of globalization, the controversy between cultural universalism and cultural relativism has become more and more fierce. Subsequently how to cope with the culture changes in a deep and profound way has become an important research topic for the university. According to the basic principle of Marxist philosophy that social consciousness is determined by social existence, this dissertation straightens up the interactive development history of university mission and social development at home and abroad, reflects and criticizes the present problems of modern university education, then further explains the university cultural orientation and the typical solution to restore the university cultural mission.By analyzing the internal relation between university education and culture, this dissertation focus on the intrinsic cultural attribute of modern university, clarifies the reasons that the university transmits cultural mission, and then puts forward that the basic value of modern universities lies in cultural inheritance, cultural enlightenment, cultural selection, cultural creation and cultural conduction. In order to clarify the value orientation of the domestic and western university mission under different social demands, this dissertation focus on the evolution process of the interactive development between western university mission and social development demands, reveals the controversy of university values of different schools, and expounds the value orientation of the western university mission under different social demands. According to the dissimilation of modern university education, this dissertation clarifies the fundamental patterns for the university to fulfill its cultural mission, and then puts forward the fundamental methods the university takes to avoid the dissimilation and assume the cultural mission.This dissertation emphasizes that the spiritual existence and cultural token are the key to the university's presence. The inner cultural quality and connotation determine the irreplaceable living space and life style the university possesses. From the beginning, the university has taken on the cultural mission. Due to the different social and cultural demands, the university assumes different cultural responsibilities in different historical periods. The controversy about university mission at home and abroad reflects the confliction between different philosophical viewpoints on the reason of university existence and value orientation. The philosophical foundation for the existence of universities can be summarized into three viewpoints: epistemology, political theory and humanistic theory. The epistemology meets the demands that the university pursues profound knowledge, while the political theory is on the need that the university should adapt itself to social development. The humanistic theory emphasizes the free development of human being. These three philosophical viewpoints reflect the multi-dimension cultural demands for the existence of universities. The root of university education dissimilation lies in the weakening and deprivation of the university cultural mission, as well as the separation between education and culture. In order to surpass the dissimilation, the modern university must strengthen the primitive cultural value and restore the university cultural mission.The definition of university cultural mission is a controversial issue. This dissertation goes beyond the summary of the three functions of the university, defines the cultural mission as the fundamental function of universities, and regards the cultural mission as the core element running through personnel training, scientific research and social services. According to the two philosophical views of epistemology and political theory on how to establish the status of universities, this dissertation emphasizes that humanistic theory is an important philosophical thought to reflect the cultural implication and thus deeply influence the development and practice of modern universities. Different from the previous studies on university functions, this dissertation carries out the study from the relation between university cultural mission and social demands, summarizes the university cultural mission from five aspects, and expounds the track of the cultural mission development under different social backgrounds.