Liberal Learning and the Modern University: Reclaiming the Intellectual and Moral Foundations of Higher Education

This book seeks to reassert the importance of liberal learning in a university landscape increasingly defined by market-driven imperatives and ideological conformity. It argues that issues of managerialism, identity politics, attention to vocational preparation, and the decline of the humanities have hampered the role of the university in society and explores ways in which liberal principles of intellectual virtue, moral discernment and academic freedom can be reinstituted at the core of these institutions.

The book is not limited to a particular discipline or national context, but raises larger questions of what universities are for and how they should be utilized. It examines the economic forces behind contemporary trends in higher education as well as drawing on political and philosophical research to reassess how we value universities in society. This book will be a fascinating read for classical liberal scholars, political economists, and those working in the philosophy and economics of education.

Patrick Keeney is a Canadian scholar, writer, and educator renowned for his contributions to the philosophy of education, political economy, higher education, and liberal learning. He holds a PhD in Curriculum Theory and Implementation from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.  His book, Liberalism, Communitarianism and Education: Reclaiming Liberal Education, explores the tensions between liberal theories of justice and the ideals of a general education. He has published numerous newspaper and journal articles. His research interests encompass lifelong learning, the evolving role of universities, and the impact of technology on education.