A Democratic Calling: Universities and the Common Good

Till van Rahden (Université de Montréal)

 

Abstract

Well over a century ago, Max Weber argued that »Wissenschaft« offered a chance to develop methods of thinking that would allow students to gain »clarity« about their own ethical choices. Only by refraining from politics, could a student »give himself an account of the ultimate meaning of his own conduct«. While Weber’s conception is appealing, it raises the question whether universities can play a more constructive role in a democracy? How can universities offer opportunities to cultivate and practice democratic attitudes, ways of thinking, and ways of life?

The paper explores how politicians, university leaders, and intellectuals in liberal democracies have viewed the role of the university for democracy. Many academics and others agree that there is something wrong with how universities are currently configured. What concepts help us to address that? Perhaps categories such as perplexity, uncertainty, ambiguity, ambivalence, even heterodoxy, rather than clarity, are fundamental to a vision of what the universities as places of reflection can offer democratic societies beyond scientific progress, economic growth, and technological innovation.

Redner

Till van Rahden teaches German and European Studies at the Université de Montréal where he held a Canada Research Chair from 2006 to 2016. Since 2021, he has been a senior fellow at the Kolleg as a PI for the research focus »Democratic Vistas. Reflections on the Atlantic World«. Till specializes in European history since the Enlightenment and is interested in the tension between the elusive promise of democratic equality and the recurrent presence of difference and moral conflicts. Recent publications include: Demokratie: Eine gefährdete Lebensform (Campus, 2019) and Vielheit: Jüdische Geschichte und die Ambivalenzen des Universalismus (Hamburger Edition, 2022).

Teilnahme

Teilnahme nach vorheriger Anmeldung bei Beate Sutterlüty b.sutterluety@forschungskolleg-humanwissenschaften.de