“Citadel of Science” and “Cathedral of Conscience”: The University, as Institution, was Born to be Concerned with Sustainable Knowledge, Long Before Sustainability Became a Universal Concern
Traditionally, the university is understood to be a custodian/depositary of common values, knowledge and inheritance of human cultures and civilization. In contrast to mere libraries, as well as to the complexity of the Internet, the uniqueness of the university consists of the fact that it coagu...
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doaj-bbc0f17bff5840b28fc7375a055a96422020-11-25T01:43:18ZengAcademy of Economic Studies of BucharestAmfiteatru Economic1582-91462247-91042020-04-01225431232910.24818/EA/2020/54/312 “Citadel of Science” and “Cathedral of Conscience”: The University, as Institution, was Born to be Concerned with Sustainable Knowledge, Long Before Sustainability Became a Universal ConcernOctavian-Dragomir Jora0Matei-Alexandru Apăvăloaei1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7534-2898Andreas Stamate-Ștefan2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8548-4187 Vlad I. Roșca3Rodica Gherghina4Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, RomaniaTraditionally, the university is understood to be a custodian/depositary of common values, knowledge and inheritance of human cultures and civilization. In contrast to mere libraries, as well as to the complexity of the Internet, the uniqueness of the university consists of the fact that it coagulates individuals who interact in one-of-a-kind manner with this intellectual treasure. The activities associated with universities reside not only in the rigid preservation of knowledge but also in its flexible rediscovery, i.e., by discerning valuable ideas from the works of past scholars, on top of which comes the exploration of fresh views and their partaking with future generations of peer researchers for keen reflection. Still, judging the university’s performance, which these days focuses chiefly on measurable, quantitative, scientometric indicators, should not obscure one distinctive trait of this institution, namely the sustenance of a tradition, as a qualitative expression of its life. Translating this idea into present verbiage, we identify a sense of “profound sustainability”. In this essay, we have opened up four reflection fronts regarding “sustainable universities”. The first one reviews the conventional literature on sustainability, in the ecological sense, and responds with a broader view: that of a generic socio-cultural ecosystem, that is embodied by both the university itself and the surrounding community which integrates it. The second front outlines the constitutive ingredients of such deep sustainability. Thus, we emphasize two paramount facets: “cultural lastingness” and “academic freedom”. The third front radiographs what is sustainable, broadly speaking, in the institution of the university, identifying it in the societal landscape by the invariant features of time/space that make it both different and desirable in comparison with other educational-cultural forms. Finally, the fourth front highlights a paradoxical posture. We argue that this much-fetishized and politically-charged pursual for “new sustainability” ends up in eroding “old sustainability”, viz., the cultural/generic/profound meaning of it. The main take of this essay is that we need to wittily defend the very “university tradition” from the excesses of faulty modernityhttps://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/temp/Article_2895.pdfsustainable universitytradition vs. modernityconservatism vs. progressivismtheoretical knowledge vs. technocratic managementacademic freedom vs. curricular planning |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Octavian-Dragomir Jora Matei-Alexandru Apăvăloaei Andreas Stamate-Ștefan Vlad I. Roșca Rodica Gherghina |
spellingShingle |
Octavian-Dragomir Jora Matei-Alexandru Apăvăloaei Andreas Stamate-Ștefan Vlad I. Roșca Rodica Gherghina “Citadel of Science” and “Cathedral of Conscience”: The University, as Institution, was Born to be Concerned with Sustainable Knowledge, Long Before Sustainability Became a Universal Concern Amfiteatru Economic sustainable university tradition vs. modernity conservatism vs. progressivism theoretical knowledge vs. technocratic management academic freedom vs. curricular planning |
author_facet |
Octavian-Dragomir Jora Matei-Alexandru Apăvăloaei Andreas Stamate-Ștefan Vlad I. Roșca Rodica Gherghina |
author_sort |
Octavian-Dragomir Jora |
title |
“Citadel of Science” and “Cathedral of Conscience”: The University, as Institution, was Born to be Concerned with Sustainable Knowledge, Long Before Sustainability Became a Universal Concern |
title_short |
“Citadel of Science” and “Cathedral of Conscience”: The University, as Institution, was Born to be Concerned with Sustainable Knowledge, Long Before Sustainability Became a Universal Concern |
title_full |
“Citadel of Science” and “Cathedral of Conscience”: The University, as Institution, was Born to be Concerned with Sustainable Knowledge, Long Before Sustainability Became a Universal Concern |
title_fullStr |
“Citadel of Science” and “Cathedral of Conscience”: The University, as Institution, was Born to be Concerned with Sustainable Knowledge, Long Before Sustainability Became a Universal Concern |
title_full_unstemmed |
“Citadel of Science” and “Cathedral of Conscience”: The University, as Institution, was Born to be Concerned with Sustainable Knowledge, Long Before Sustainability Became a Universal Concern |
title_sort |
“citadel of science” and “cathedral of conscience”: the university, as institution, was born to be concerned with sustainable knowledge, long before sustainability became a universal concern |
publisher |
Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest |
series |
Amfiteatru Economic |
issn |
1582-9146 2247-9104 |
publishDate |
2020-04-01 |
description |
Traditionally, the university is understood to be a custodian/depositary of common values,
knowledge and inheritance of human cultures and civilization. In contrast to mere libraries,
as well as to the complexity of the Internet, the uniqueness of the university consists of the
fact that it coagulates individuals who interact in one-of-a-kind manner with this
intellectual treasure. The activities associated with universities reside not only in the rigid
preservation of knowledge but also in its flexible rediscovery, i.e., by discerning valuable
ideas from the works of past scholars, on top of which comes the exploration of fresh views
and their partaking with future generations of peer researchers for keen reflection. Still,
judging the university’s performance, which these days focuses chiefly on measurable,
quantitative, scientometric indicators, should not obscure one distinctive trait of this
institution, namely the sustenance of a tradition, as a qualitative expression of its life.
Translating this idea into present verbiage, we identify a sense of “profound sustainability”.
In this essay, we have opened up four reflection fronts regarding “sustainable universities”.
The first one reviews the conventional literature on sustainability, in the ecological sense,
and responds with a broader view: that of a generic socio-cultural ecosystem, that is
embodied by both the university itself and the surrounding community which integrates it.
The second front outlines the constitutive ingredients of such deep sustainability. Thus, we
emphasize two paramount facets: “cultural lastingness” and “academic freedom”. The third
front radiographs what is sustainable, broadly speaking, in the institution of the university,
identifying it in the societal landscape by the invariant features of time/space that make it
both different and desirable in comparison with other educational-cultural forms. Finally,
the fourth front highlights a paradoxical posture. We argue that this much-fetishized and
politically-charged pursual for “new sustainability” ends up in eroding “old sustainability”,
viz., the cultural/generic/profound meaning of it. The main take of this essay is that we
need to wittily defend the very “university tradition” from the excesses of faulty modernity |
topic |
sustainable university tradition vs. modernity conservatism vs. progressivism theoretical knowledge vs. technocratic management academic freedom vs. curricular planning |
url |
https://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/temp/Article_2895.pdf |
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