Karl Jaspers'The Idea of the University: An existentialist argument for an institution concerned with freedom

ABSTRACT The article is written to bring forward for discussion Karl Jaspers' The Idea of the University, published in 1923 and extensively revised in 1946. The origins of the work, with its close relationship to Jaspers' own intellectual progress and his contribution to the rebuilding of the post-war German university systems, is described. The main themes of the book (wholeness, tension and boundary situations, communication, and the freedom of the intellectual) are considered in detail with the intention of demonstrating his uniqueness as an existentialist in justifying a specific social institution. The author's view of the relationship of state and university leads to an analysis of Jaspers' opinions on the goals and processes of education and to a consideration of the membership of the university and the environment for an intellectual élite. The two interdependent tools of the university are said to be the scientific spirit and philosophy. Each is examined and the quality of ‘responsive reasoning˚s commended. The university's justification is therefore that it provides the environment for a special way of knowing. This special gift of the scholar is related to the public role of the intellectual. The essay concludes with a brief account of Jaspers' use of the term ‘culture˚s which again relates to the function of the university. A fundamental Marxist criticism of existentialism is raised and, although Jaspers' conservatism is acknowledged, it is argued that he is forward-looking, not least by proposing a public role for the intellectual and for the university which supports the intellectual.