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Knowledge, Higher Education and Society: a postmodern problem

1993; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 19; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0305498930190103

1465-3915

Ronald Barnett,

Education, Philosophy, and Society

Abstract In modern society, knowledge, higher education and society act upon each other as separate forces. Two contemporary analytical frameworks help to illuminate this triangle of forces, but the stories they tell seem opposed to each other. Critical theory points up the skewed character of rationality in modern society: on this view, the changing definitions of knowledge in higher education can be said to be a shift in the direction of instrumental reason, with other (hermeneutic and critical) forms of reason being down‐played. Postmodernism, on the other hand, argues not for any such one‐dimensionality but underscores a heterogeneity of thought forms. Higher education can be viewed in this way, too: the university is a social institution which celebrates differentiation of forms of thought. Can the circle be squared? Can these differences between critical theory and postmodernism—as interpretations of higher education—be reconciled? This paper argues that they can be.