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Philosophical critique highlights the purpose of higher education, suggesting it goes beyond mere workforce preparation.
What is higher education? Is it simply a place to trade time and money for a degree? Is it workforce preparation? Is it a place to deepen one’s understanding of self? Undeclared: a philosophy of formative higher education by Chris Higgins examines these questions and more while offering a critique of the modern American university. In a sharp and witty voice, Higgins takes a philosophical approach to examining the purposes of higher education, bridging ideas of formative education with critiques of the marketized university. The book prompts the reader to wonder, beyond the brick and mortar of a traditional higher education institution, what is the purpose of a university education? Drawing from examples in poetry, art, literature, and classic philosophical thought, Higgins warns against the perils of too narrowly defining the purpose of education, and by extension, the purpose of life.
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Marisa Lally (2025) studied this question.
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