Research On University Curriculum From The Perspective Of Philosophical Anthropology

The German philosopher Marx Scheler said,“People who want to self-education orwant to teach others，must face three problems with a clear understanding that are what isthe essence of education? How to carry out education? What kind of knowledge andunderstanding that restricts and regulates one person to make him more educated?”Here,the meaning of education in Scheler means to become one real human being. As everyoneknows, the nature of university education is to make people more development. AsUniversity curriculum is an important carrier of university education, it should have suchkind of function. However， the contemporary university curriculum sinks into thequagmire of“scientific”,“utilitarian” and “assorted” just like losing its soul. Firstof all，the “scientific”curriculum has occupied the central position which was for thehumanity curriculum in the past. Science curriculum is high above the humanity courses.Even if the humanity course still in university courses，it also needs to prove its legitimacyby hold the value that is so-called “value-free，objective and positive”. On the otherhand，the scientific curriculum of university also caused its own crisis. Increasingdevelopment of Natural Science makes the science curriculum more falling. The sciencecurriculum neglects the all-round development of people by limited in its own disciplinedevelopment. Secondly, the “utilitarian” of university curriculum is highlighted，curriculum activities around the operation of the market. Curriculum which is close withthe economic market，and can create economic value will be able to hold the greatproportion. Those who can benefit students employment，has become the new favorite inthe course. Those who can not get instant results of the economic value are increasinglymarginalized，or even lose their existing in university courses. Finally，when the universitygot into the heart of community, the university course took more and more function. Inorder to meet the social and market requirements，the university added or deleted a certainkind of knowledge in the curriculum structure resulting in assorted of curriculumsupermarket. In short，the “science”,“utilitarian”and“assorted”of contemporary universitycurriculum makes it losing its function to cultivate the value of “human”. Fundamentallyspeaking, the university curriculum practice in essence is a kind of value creation activities.The contemporary crisis that university curriculum is facing is because losing its essencethat is the clear and definite answer of“what is human being”. Just as Four propositions asKant ultimately boiled down to “what is human being”, we believe that universitycurriculum, as an important carrier for culturing people，must be carry on the perspectiveof “what is the human being”. In fact, throughout the history of University, the universitycurriculum in any period was around the specific understanding of human nature toorganize and carry out itself. The crisis of university curriculum nowadays lies in the“alienation”and“digestion”of human nature. Therefore, the only way that contemporaryuniversity curriculum could out of the predicament lie in re-establishing the human natureas the core to guid the construction of university curriculum. Philosophical anthropology,as the systematic answer for what is human being and an optimistic anthropology, providesguidance and basis for this research. Therefore, based on the logic framework ofphilosophical anthropology, this dissertation backs the hypothesis that hidden in theevolving process of university curriculum that is“understanding of human nature indifferent time affects the overall trend of University Curriculum.”On this basis, based onthe understanding of human nature in cultural anthropology, this study reflects andreconstructs the way which can make contemporary university curriculum out of the crisisof this time.Specifically, under directing of the philosophical anthropology, by traceing the historyand reality of university curriculum, this paper explores the theme that behind UniversityCurriculum is“what is human being”.In the first chapter, the traditional definition ofuniversity courses are described firstly, and then the dilemma of classification definitionabout university curriculum is pointed out and a new definition is putted forward whichpay more attention to its function,its significance and value.The second chapter, thedevelopment of philosophical anthropology, its background and its main points areintroduced, which enables us to have a comprehensive understanding of philosophicalanthropology. The possibility and necessity of using philosophical anthropology to studyuniversity course is also pointed out which lay the foundation of this study. The thirdchapter analyzes the Anthropology of religion in medieval universitycurriculum.University was the product of medieval.Medieval emphasized that people are the creation of god. Man is sinful, the root of sin is against God by using free will andbetraying the agreement between God and people.Therefore, the only way to improvehuman being is the believe in god. Based on the essence of the human being in this period,the medieval university curriculum emphasized the curriculum goal “conversion”, paidattention to the curriculum content “theological center”, emphasised on the BibleCommentary. Fourth chapter，from the explicated description of the German classicuniversity and its course, the relation between university curriculum and human nature inthis period was pointed out. Organization and implementation of the curriculum of Germanclassic university was based on “human being is the rational existence”which highlightedthe curriculum goal to cultivate the rational thinking, harmonious curriculum content andthe implementation of curriculum on research and debate. By analyzing the features ofcontemporary university curriculum，the fifth chapter points out that the universitycurriculum appears no“human being”nowdays caused by instrumental rationalism andexistentialism. Instrumental rationalism and existentialism makes the modern universitycurriculum showing a characteristic of single facing, instrumentalizing and interestingwhich loses its value function of improving people nature. How to make contemporaryuniversity courses out of this trouble? How to make the university play its must_befunction of perfecting human being? In the sixth chapter, based on the understanding ofhuman nature which uphold by the most advanced cultural philosophical anthropology, thisstudy attempts to construct the University curriculum that arounds the idea of “human isthe existence of culture”.That is to emphasize “the existence of culture”as integrationstatus in the university curriculum，pay attention to the university curriculum continuityand integrity, outstand curriculum implementation of the dialogue and communication,construct the localization based on its own culture. In the conclusion part, the fitnessbetween university curriculum and the theory of philosophical anthropology about humanessence was summarized again. The shortage of and the next phase of this study isreflected and prospected at end.