Ki találta fel a humboldti egyetemet? Vita az úgynevezett „Humboldt-mítosz”-ról
Who Invented the Humboldtian University? The Debate about the So-Called Humboldt Myth

Summary/Abstract: During the transformation of European universities by the Bologna Process, intense debate was sparked off about the role of Wilhelm von Humboldt in the founding of the Berlin University and the question whether a Humboldtian Model can even be said to exist. The leitmotif of the debate is the Humboldt Myth, based on the idea that Humboldt’s role in the founding of the Berlin University was very limited, and his significance is a construct created by twentieth-century philosophers and university policy-makers who were closely associated to the current politics and university policy struggles of their age. The present study selects two questions from the complex branches of this multifarious debate, both of which concern the institutionalization of philosophical thought. The first one deals with the role of the philosophical ideas in the founding of the university. Here the author focuses on the activities of Humboldt himself, who was well acquainted with the relevant views and ideas of his contemporaries and was able to appropriate and apply them in a productive way. Second, the study raises the question whether the concept of myth is suitable for the interpretation of Humboldt's reception. Representatives of the Humboldt Myth thesis often fail to distinguish between various forms of Humboldt reception. This is why it is necessary to clarify the typical manifestations of the twentieth-century reception of Humboldt’s university-related activities. The study identifies five distinctive types of Humboldt reception and concludes that only a few of these can be labelled as a myth, and even then, to a limited extent. Finally, the study argues that the debate about the Humboldt Myth fits in the context of the conflicts triggered by the transformation of European universities. The key principles behind these universities’ managerist transforma-tion from the 1980s onwards are in diametric opposition with the Humboldtian university concept, which is the reason why the debate about the Humboldt Myth became an integral part of conceptual struggles surrounding the future of European universities.

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