THE UNIVERSITY IN THE SOCIAL ORDER - Introduction - Abstract of Dr.Kotschnig's Address - Brno, Czechoslovakia

Sep 21, 2026

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The university, viewed as the apex of educational systems, faces confusion and obscurantism despite the expectation that education enables social progress. Reactionary interests oppose expanding educational facilities, and even countries with advanced schooling suffer social and political unrest. The document argues that unrest is driven not by change itself, but by the lack of constructive planning. Three explanations are proposed: limiting education to a few, exaggerating education’s link to socio-political progress, or that education itself has gone wrong.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Main problem: education and social unrest

Three possible explanations

University character and determinants

Historical development of truth and knowledge

The elite the university aims to produce

97-84113-21Kotschnig,Walter Maria ..The university in theSocial order [S.I.] [193-?] COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIESPRESERVATION DIVISIONBIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED-EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD | | 308 | | | order;ab-
…193-? | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | Z
Box | 370 | Kotschnig,Walter 1aria,1901-
The university in the social
stract of Dr.Kotschnig's address
7 numb.1.27 cm. | | | | | | Caption title.
Multigraphed.
At head of title:I,S.S.XI ann
Brno,Czeohosloyakia.
O | ual oonference | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LY ED | RESTRICTIONS ON USE: Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Libranes. TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: 35mmREDUCTION RATIO: 9:1MAGE PLACEMENT;AILA IIB IB DATE FILMED: -66-97INITIALS: B TRACKING\#: 24630 FILMED BY PRESERVATION RESOURCES,BETHLEHEM,PA. P典)上Jw工 308 Z 10x 370 T.S.s.XI Annual ConferenceBrno,Czechoslovakia THE UNIVERSITY IN THE SOCIAL ORDER Abstract of Dr.Kotschnig's Address # Introduction Reactionary forces in all countries and at all times,representativesof vested interests in money and land,in social position and politicalpower have made it a rule to oppose all measures tending to extend educa-tional facilities. This attitude would indicate that educationis a powerful means forsocial progress,feared by those who have little to gain and much to lose。And yet it must be admitted that some of the countries with the most highlydeveloped systems of education suffer most acutely from social and politicalunrest.It is not the fact that these countries are undergoing tremendoussocial and political changes which is disquieting -change is the very essenceof progress -but that these changes are not brought about according to anyconstructive planning. Thus they lead only too easily to utter confusion,to reckless waste of energies,to internecine strife and civil war. Worstof all,the university,the apex of the educational system seems to becomethe centre of confusion and obscurantism。 This paradoxical situation allows of three possible explanations: (a)that the die-hards of all lands are justified in maintaining thateducation should be confined to the few and leads to upheavaland destruction if it becomes the property of the masses; (b)that there is no connection between education and socio-politicalprogress,or,at best,that the influence of education uponsocial and political developments has been grossly exaggerated; (c)that education itself has gone wrong. Only a close analysis of our conception of education and the extentt)which education has been instrumental in creating or maintaining socio-political attitudes can determine which of these three conclusions is sound.In keeping with the nature of our conference this analysis will be confinedas far as possible to the universities and their position within the socialframework. The character of a university is determined by the idea of knowledgewhich it professes to advance,by the type of man it purports to produceand by the economic,social and political condition of the community inwhich it finds itself. 1)It would be a fascinating task to trace throughout the ages the wayin which the universities conceived truth and knowledge:from Thomas Aquinasand his conception of the unitas intellectus to the humanists who in con-ceiving man as a microcosm understood the world as a macrocosm;from theencyclopaedists,who established the goddess of reason as arbiter of truthand falsehood,to the romanticits to Steffen,Fichte,Schelling and Hegel;from the positivists and their "science without presuppositions"to thevitalistic philosophies of Nietsche,Bergson and others.Each of theseperiods represe

FAQs

Why do reactionary forces oppose expanding educational facilities?

Reactionary forces in many countries, representing vested interests, oppose measures that would extend educational opportunities because they have little to gain and much to lose.

What is the document’s view on why unrest occurs even in highly developed education systems?

Unrest is not caused by change itself—progress depends on change—but by the fact that changes are not brought about through constructive planning, leading to confusion and waste.

What three explanations does the document propose for the paradox of universities becoming centers of confusion?

The document proposes: education should be confined to the few, education has little or no real connection to socio-political progress, or education itself has gone wrong.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Eden