The Intellectual Climate of the Early University : Essays in Honor of Otto Grundler

A university exists to make known what can only be revealed by consistent, dedicated effort. Ultimately, a university exists in order to understand the things that are hidden from ordinary, casual view. This is a message that is subtly reinforced by all of the articles in this volume.

Despite a good deal of research and writing concerning the development and intellectual transformation in the period of the early university, the subject remains in many respects enigmatic. This collection of essays in honor of Otto Gründler tackles many of the questions that run to the heart of the early university. The volume will be of interest to scholars of the period as well as anyone familiar with issues of today''s academic profession, as the questions that confronted the early university are not so unfamiliar today: What exactly is the "life of the mind"? What should one learn in a university? What is learning itself "good for"? What is a discipline, and is it possible for disciplines to reinforce each other? Can some university disciplines be identified as givens, as forming an unquestionably self-evident basis for university study? And even that most basic question: What is a university after all? This collection of essays from experts in a range of fields confronts these questions in a broad, satisfying way that expands and clarifies the questions that are as relevant today as they were in the thirteenth century.