Sunday, October 23, 2011

Universities

Dr. John Searle, an uber-renowned professor at UC Berkeley, in an interview on written language, said this:

But furthermore -- and this is where it really gets exciting -- is you can now create the forms of civilization that are enduring. I'm thinking not just of great art and literature, but of money, property, government, marriage, universities, textbooks, all of the elaborate systems that language has that we can encode in written language that enable us to create an elaborate civilization that is based on our capacity to represent and to create enduring representations. (You can read the whole interview here).

In this post I'm going to discuss the Western world's oldest Univeristy, the University of Bologna in Italy and how writing made it possible.


First, in the spirit of written language, let's take a look at the history of the word "university". It comes from the Latin word "universus" which means all, whole, all together, (like universal). This is probably because at the time, a "university" wasn't a set campus, but rather a network of teachers and learners that interacted wherever they had space. The Latin phrase used for our modern concept of a university was "universitus magistrorum et scholarium", so basically "collection of teachers and scholars".  What's interesting is that "universus" contains "versus", which means verse or line. So if you stretch it, a University could be seen as originating as a collection of all things written (verses and lines). (I hope I'm not sounding too much like Nicholas Cage in National Treasure or Tom Hanks in those Dan Brown book-movies.) What was really interesting to me was that "scholar" can be traced back to the Greek word "schole" which means "loitering, withholding oneself from work, leisure". I doubt most freshmen at BYU would agree with this definition of a scholar, but anyway, back to the University of Bologna. (Oh and I found all of this at this really cool etymology site.)





The University's exact founding date isn't certain, but it is believed that is was formed in 1088. The university was almost completely run by students, as students directly paid the teachers, as opposed to earlier monastical institutions of learning where the church paid the teacher. The main focus of study at the University at it's formation and for almost three centuries after was Roman Law based around the Justinian Code. It wasn't until the 14th century that the "artes", which included medicine, philosophy, math, rhetoric, etc., joined law as a main area of study
(http://www2.unibo.it/avl/english/bromwich/bouni.htm). This is a prime illustration of how writing directly influenced the formation of the university. With no written language, it would be inconceivable to have a detailed set of laws like The Justinian Code. With no Justinian Code, I would argue that there would be no University of Bologna, as there would be no necessity for a place to study an extensive legal code.

Another very important thing to note is that often the courses taught by the professors were based around a book, rather than a whole subject. (For example, the Justinian Codex, the Bible, or classical writings.) Maybe this was due to the fact that prior to the middle ages, most scholarly institutions were devoted to translating and preserving sacred texts. (http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/medieval2.html). This makes evident just how deeply influential written works are on not only the medieval idea of a university but also our modern university. I don't think there are many classes at BYU that don't require at least one text book for the course. Without the development and influence of written language, I would contend that there would be no such thing as a "university", rather, any type of formal learning would have been done (and would still be done) in Socratic-style oral seminars. Of course universities bring both into play, and it is this complement of orality to the written and vice versa that is the basis of the University.


4 comments:

  1. Cool! I never would of thought of a university as something other than a physical campus. But it makes more sense that a university is a network of learners. I mean that's what makes college what it is. Anyone can buy a textbook and learn on their own, but then you miss that interaction with others. And to be honest some of the most effective learning comes from study groups.

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  2. What an interesting note on the etymology of the word "university". As we discussed in class earlier, Walter Ong discussed the differences between orality and literacy, and noted that literacy lead to more individualized study, which is certainly true, but not in this case. The university , which shares a root with unity, was founded upon the learning of the whole, not just the individual. An example of this can also be found in our reading in Reinventing Knowledge. In the chapter entitled The Monastery, it was said that the written Bible was often read aloud in large groups because access to the Bible was difficult. This too promoted communal learning in a written world.
    I agree with your statement that the concept of a university, especially in modern context, could not exist without the invention of writing. The book says "As long as [Christianity's] texts survived, so too would its teachings" (48). Conversely, if texts did not survive, or there were not texts, then practices and precepts of learning would not survive.

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  3. It's interesting, also, that the university is where really expert teachers are. On that link you mentioned, it was mentioned that the teachers were given tenure as long as they remained and only taught in Bologna, which is why the students gathered there.

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  4. Universities are a perfect example of the overlap between the different forms of knowledge and communication Dr. Burton talks about.

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