What is the Cultural Role of the University? A Philosophy of Culture Approach

Imelda CHŁODNA-BŁACH

Department of the Philosophy of Culture and Art, Institute of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The article addresses the role of the university in culture. Discussion of this issue is becoming particularly important nowadays, especially with a crisis of humanistic knowledge, on one hand, and the fact that higher education is increasingly becoming mass education, on the other. The author underlines the humanistic function of the university in the society and in culture. This function is rooted in the personalistic foundations of the university and gives meaning to the tasks it fulfills, such as advancing research and teaching, forming the intelligentsia, providing professional training, spreading knowledge, and promoting culture. The reflection offered in the paper is divided into three parts: (1) considerations focused on the philosophical issues concerning the human being and culture, (2) remarks on philosophy as the fundamental form of scientific cognition and on the role of philosophy in academic education, and (3) reflection on the institution of the university, in particular, the contemporary Catholic university.

Keywords:

culture, person, education, university, philosophy, philosophical anthropology