Autonomy for Whom? Governance of What? The Rationality of Academic Freedom

Abstract

Following an approach of cultural epistemology this chapter is dedicated to the examination of both the inner and outer factors which enable academic freedom for the faculty (i.e., university scholars, scientists, teachers). According to the author, universities today are increasingly forced “to navigate the treacherous waters of social usefulness and relevance” while attempting to preserve their nature as institutions “devoted to autonomous research and instruction.” Against the backdrop of Max Weber’s lecture Wissenschaft als Beruf (“Science as Vocation”) the author interrogates the subjective conditions of autonomous reason and the objective conditions of its free exercise. Max Weber’s lecture orients the argumentation towards the demands of a higher purpose—of an ultimate end—that requires and justifies free intellectual pursuit.