Newman, MacIntyre and us: agony and universities in the 21st century

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. In the year 2009, Alasdair MacIntyre published an article subtitled “Aristotle, Newman and Us”. MacIntyre himself added, thus, to the growing interest in the figure of John Henry Newman, which, however, has not been revealed by the scientific literature that has tried to understand the MacIntyre’s philosophy of education. This article aims to highlight that relationship with the idea that it can shed new frames of understanding about the university and its current problems. METHOD. It is situated in the philosophical-educational understandings pertaining to the hermeneutics applied to education defended by Deborah Kerdeman, Randall Curren or Anna Pagès, understanding that this methodology must be put into dialogue with the present in such a way that the authors are not only interesting, but also provide us with the appropriate guidelines. RESULT. What MacIntyre observes with this article is that the influence of Newman in the MacIntyre’s educational philosophy is done not through the strictly educational texts, mainly condensed in his The Idea of a University defined and illustred, but through those related to the development of the doctrine and the idea of tradition. DISCUSSION. one can see not only the influence but also a kind of university that, although far from being able to be carried out institutionally, is able to take shape in the academic existence. It allows for the understanding of problems such as curricular theory, academic identity and the relationship between teaching and research