University: Its Philosophical Nature And Philosophical Self-Consciousness

The crisis in university, the impotence of philosophy and the banality of man, constitute the overall situation of our age. It is an urgent task for us to thoroughly rethink and overhaul the conception of university and the way of philosophy to develop universities.Historically, philosophy is closely connected with universities. Academically speaking, it is scientific to deliberate education with philosophy:in ancient Greece, the symbiosis between philosophy and university is not unusual; what goes in the university is mainly philosophical education. The philosophical nature is always there in the universities. The pursuit of philosophy by Universities forms the philosophical nature of Universities, which finds its fundamental origin from the philosophical self-consciousness of university. It is a necessity for universities. Originally, the philosophical nature of university is an actual existence. There is a tension between the initiation of a philosophical way of life for universities intrinsic in the philosophical nature of university and the secular life in reality. Later on, with the division and specialization of knowledge and philosophy, the philosophical nature of university becomes more of a supposed existence. The university loses its philosophical nature consciously or unconsciously. The separation of philosophy and university is harmful to both.The Berlin University under the supervision of Humboldt, the Chicago University under Hutchins and the Beijing University under Cai Yuanpei are universities with highly philosophical self-consciousness; the height of philosophy underpins the height of the university. The developing of these universities draws heavily from their own national culture and traditional thoughts and benefits from the brilliant presidents and chancellors who run the university in accordance with the philosophical nature of university. Humboldt's liberal philosophy, Hutchins'rational philosophy and Cai Yuanpei's relative philosophy give a distinctive label for their university and erect themselves high above in the universities throughout the world. Different university presidents with different philosophical understanding of university will inhale different prospects into universities.Intrinsically and extrinsically, the definition of nature entails prescriptive norms. It follows that the philosophical nature of universities includes its internal characteristics and its external manifestations. The former refers to the essence of university not only as the place for passing on knowledge and probing into profound learning, but also as the place for people to gain wisdom and seek truth; it is instruction of knowledge as well as nurturance of wisdom. The latter is represented by those unique morale and cultural aspirations in different universities run by different presidents with their own distinctive philosophy. As we have seen, the above-mentioned three highly accomplished universities benefit from their philosophical vision, attract and nourish brilliant people, encourage scholarly studies and advance science and technology, and in the long run facilitate the development of national culture and society.Theoretically, it is logical to investigate further into implications of the philosophical nature of university based on the history of philosophical nature of universities and their actual performance. The essence of the nature of university finds its expression in its spiritual ambition. The investigation of the philosophical nature of universities can be approached from the three aspects of verities, talents and intellectuals stemmed from universities. A university transcends itself through the inquiry of truth, through the nurturance of talented philosophers, and through the pursuit of wisdom by transforming knowledge;thus it becomes a place transcending practical use and a place for man to be excellent. The university therefore grows into a spiritually and culturally raised land on its way of loving wisdom. It's in this sense that a university is a university with philosophical self-consciousness. Though, as man is in its unfinished state and philosophy is always on the way of loving wisdom, the philosophy of university is endless; universities are always "on the way. "...