La raison et l’histoire: l’idée kantienne de l’université

Reason and History: Kant’s Idea of University This text consists of two parts. The first brings forward a reconstruction of the topic from The Conflict of the Faculties (1789), while the second one tries to establish how much of it would be of use nowadays and to what conclusions it may lead. In The Conflict of the Faculties, Kant asked for a transformation which gives philosophers the right to comment upon and criticize the syllabuses imposed by the government to the Faculty of Law, of Theology and of Medicine. Although the present-day context is considerably changed in relation to those times, the duty of the Kantian philosopher has remained the same and it consists of exercising regarding the political usage of scientific hypotheses (in the broad sense of the word), which leads to negative outcomes such as repression, social exclusion, disruption of men and women’s natural right and disruption of universal peace. However, Kant’s proposed maintains its contradictory character, as it foresees a public education system and simultaneously limits the right to debate only to scholars.