In the west, the Middle Ages was a century in which religion was respected. At that time, the university was closely related to religion. At first, the purpose of running the university was mainly to train priests and monks. Therefore, theology was the core subject of university education at that time. At the same time, the university also teaches grammar, rhetoric, logic, law, astronomy, geometry, medicine, art and so on.
It can be seen that the teaching subjects of medieval universities covered almost all the knowledge fields at that time, so what they provided was actually a general education. The three goals of liberal arts education are: understanding nature, society and life; Master certain basic skills such as clear expression and scientific method training; Give advice on learning, tolerant values and the ability to make wise judgments.
It can be said that medieval universities were far-sighted as soon as they came into being, and won the right of autonomy and academic freedom, which had a far-reaching impact on the emergence of modern western universities.
Let's take a look at the initial situation of Berlin University. Formally, the University of Berlin, like other universities, still includes four schools of philosophy, theology, medicine and law. From the beginning, its purpose was to serve the national interests. The university concept understood and expounded by Humboldt and other spiritual godfathers of Berlin University has injected unique life into Berlin University, making it the true ancestor of modern universities.
Humboldt put forward the famous "Humboldt Five Principles": universities should be relatively independent, should study academics, should be academic freedom, should develop science, and should serve the long-term goals of the country.
Lyotard deeply analyzed Humboldt's university idea in the post-modern situation. He believes: "This kind of education should not only enable individuals to acquire knowledge, but also construct a legal subject for knowledge and society." It clearly shows that the principle of German universities is "to base the development of knowledge, society and country on the realization of subject life" (Fichte called it "sacred life" and Hegel called it "spiritual life").
What about British universities? 1852, John, a graduate of Oxford University and long-term president of the New Catholic University in Dublin, Ireland? John H.Cardinal Newman compiled and published a series of speeches entitled "The Idea of the University", which systematically expounded the century-old tradition of running a British university and his own understanding of the idea and spirit of the university for the first time. He expounded that university is a place to impart universal knowledge, and it is "an advanced protection force for all knowledge and science, facts and principles, exploration and discovery, experiment and thinking;" It depicts the realm of reason ... where it neither invades nor gives in to either side. "Universities should not impart practical technical knowledge, but should provide liberal arts education based on liberal arts and science knowledge. University is a place to cultivate gentlemen and an institution to train and cultivate people's wisdom. The knowledge taught by universities should not be the acquisition of specific facts or the cultivation of practical skills, but a state or rational (spiritual) training.
The purpose of university is to cultivate or bring up intelligent, philosophical and educated gentlemen; The duty of a university is to provide wisdom, rationality and thinking practice. "If the purpose of a university is the invention of science and philosophy, then I can't see why a university should have students." Newman's idea of university is obviously that a university is a place to "teach", an institution to cultivate "talents" and a place to preserve cultural traditions.
Flex is a pioneer of modern universities in the United States, and is famous for establishing Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies. In his book "Universities in the United States, Britain and Germany", he systematically expounded the universities in his mind. From the beginning, he quoted the concept of modern universities: the existence of universities not only shows that human history is worth preserving, but also shows that human beings can create culture according to their own wishes. He believes that universities should keep a certain distance from society and should not follow the crowd. Based on a certain value system, universities keep an appropriate critical resistance to social fashion, which is helpful to social clarity and rationality. "University is not a thermometer, it still reflects every social trend. Universities always give something to society, which is not what society wants, but what society needs. "
The two ideal educational models of modern European universities are represented by Oxford University in the UK and Berlin University in Germany respectively: the educational purpose of British universities is to cultivate "gentlemen"; The purpose of education in German universities is to train "scholars". The United States is compatible with the university ideals of Britain and Germany. That is, the function of modern universities is not limited to Newman's "land of knowledge dissemination" or Humboldt's "land of knowledge dissemination and knowledge production", but is endowed with new functions of directly serving the society.