Don Liberty

The English pluralists believed that institutions of higher education were paradigmatic examples of group-life – purposeful associations that, in their fellowship, denied the absolute sovereignty of the state. This article addresses the absence of sustained study of the university as an object of pluralist theorizing by four important pluralists: J.N. Figgis, G.D.H. Cole, Harold Laski and Ernest Barker. They defended the academic freedom of the institution against perceived threats from both the state and organized interests. Despite their differences, and sometimes radical views, their account of the ideal life of the university relied on a conception of public interest that took cues from the church, the trades union and even the state itself, and identified a position that was neither institutionally secular nor rigidly neutral

Absolute (philosophy) · Ideal (ethics) · Institution · Object (grammar) · Position (finance) · Sovereignty · State (computer science) · Education, Philosophy, and Society · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Scottish History and National Identity