Gelehrte' Wissenschaft. Das Vorlesungsprogramm der Universitat Jena um 1800

This collection of fourteen articles explores the nature of pedagogy at the University of Jena from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century, encompassing the so-called Blütezeit of the institution. The contributions focus on teaching in specific disciplines, established and emergent, providing instructive surveys of developments in practice and identifying the forces—intellectual, social and political—which shaped the orientation of pedagogy. They especially seek to address the impact of historic scientific currents on teaching. Almost all the articles reveal significant transformations in pedagogy within the specific disciplines examined. These findings effectively result in the debunking of popular narratives which fail to recognize any ‘modernization’ of German university education prior to the foundation of the University in Berlin. This outcome is emphasized more overtly by the editors in the preface than in the various contributions. For the most part the analysis of pedagogy is based on the examination of the lecture programmes printed for each academic semester at Jena. These sources survive as a relatively complete series for the period in question and have been made readily available in a 2003 publication (Das Vorlesungsangebot der Universität Jena von 1749 bis 1854, 2 vols, ed. Horst Neuper, Weimar, 2003). In many respects the book currently reviewed constitutes a response to the 2003 edition of lecture programmes and can be regarded as a companion to that publication. ‘Gelehrte’ Wissenshaft reveals the utility of such source materials, demonstrating the extent of the purchase to be gained from their interrogation. It should be observed that the volume is presented as the ultimate outcome of a conference staged in 2004. The editors also note the fact that its date of publication corresponds to the 450th anniversary of Jena's inauguration. This book, however, constitutes much more than a commemorative artefact.

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