Rethinking the Neoliberal University through Byung-Chul Han (First of Two Parts)

In this paper, I engage the neoliberalization of universities using insights from Byung-Chul Han. Specifically, I criticize the neoliberal university’s absolute prioritization of what Han calls the vita activa (active life) over the vita contemplativa (contemplative life). I argue that the emphasis the neoliberal university places on activity or work is crippling its own capacity to think. I begin by expositing Han’s insight that thinking and knowledge flourishes during moments of inactivity or leisure, i.e., the vita contemplativa. Next, I present a brief sketch of the neoliberal university and, using Han’s language, emphasize how work and performance have become its central categories, eventually diminishing the role of inactivity or leisure within its walls. Afterwards, I show that the absolutization of the vita activa has crippled thinking within the confines of the university. This atrophy of thought is manifested in various areas, such as the informatization of teaching, the inability to criticize the status quo, the production of superficial and inferior research publications, and the fading of the spirit of community. Finally, this paper ends with an appraisal of the vita contemplativa as a counterbalance to the neoliberal strictures on thinking within the university

Dialectic · Knowledge production · Sketch · Digital Education and Society · Education, Philosophy, and Society · University Challenges and Reforms