R. Barnett’s Concept of Ecological University on the Role of the University in the World and for the World (Reflections on the Book)

The paper is devoted to the reflections on the work of Ronald Barnett The Ecological University: A Feasible Utopia. The research field of social philosophy of higher education is emerging, and the work of Barnett lays the foundations for the philosophical analysis of the university. It is shown that the ecological university is viewed not as another formation of the university among the many existing today, but as a counterform of the university, opposing such university models as entrepreneurial and digital universities. Applying the ecological ap­proach to the university will require a revolutionary transformation in thinking, denoting such a turn as shaping the university’s ecosophy. It is emphasized that the ecological university interacts with the world not in an instrumental, technical way, but rather in a transcendental, hermeneutic way: not through the imposition of changes, but through understanding. Particular attention is paid to the following main ideas of the book: the application of an ecosophical approach to the analysis of the new identity of the university in a changing world, a new vision of the interaction between the university and the larger world, based on the ethics of responsibility for the well-being of ecosystems in which the university is involved, and also the ideas of the knowledge ecology and epistemic responsibility. The urgent imperative of the ecological approach to rethinking the identity and the future of the university as a social institution is substantiated, starting from the concept of “deep ecology” the university builds new forms of interaction with the world. The main principles of this interaction are integrity, responsibility and critical dialogue. The authors believe that the research optics of the social and philosophical analysis of the university actualizes the purpose, responsibilities and influence of the university in the changing world

Biology · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Higher education · Identity (music) · Institution · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Utopia · Digital Education and Society · Ecology · Ego Development and Educational Practices · Innovation, Sustainability, Human-Machine Systems · Law · Philosophy