LETTERS: FOR centuries in the East and West, the disciplines and ideas connected to “philosophy” were regarded as the most praiseworthy because without it, any practical activity is devoid of depth of meaning in relation to the human soul, to the environment and, ultimately, to the Creator.
It was the reason that the term “university” was named as such — a place where universal matters were investigated and studied by scholars with the goal of educating human beings with a universal outlook.
Unfortunately, in the last 100 years, we have unconsciously been influenced by secularisation as a philosophical programme, which has restricted the meaning of “university” itself.
As a result, the modern-day university has abandoned a universal outlook and instead promotes particularity; it emphasises excellence without a soul.
Tied to this is the following scenario described by Budd Hall, a Unesco chair in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education: “…state funding is influenced by market forces themselves as corporate interests would like to see universities prepare particular types of students, students with flexible technical skills, politically ambivalent and mobile to work within the global market system. If a university decides to strike out in new directions focused on long-term results, it is likely to find its funding threatened.”
Therefore, the more urgent priority for universities of today is to redefine its educational philosophy — the overarching vision or set of universal ideas that determine the meaning and direction of any educational activity.
In most cases today, an educator’s way of thinking or an institution is unconsciously shaped or coloured by the prism of the dominant civilisation — the modern secular Western civilisation that restricts the purpose of education to the production of good citizens or good workers, leading to the commodification of education.
Therefore, it is imperative that the educated class of other civilisations rediscover and reclaim first and foremost their educational philosophy from their respective civilisations.
Failure to do so will mean the displacement of their respective sense of self-meaning and reason for existence, which may, in fact, have something better to contribute to modern life.
In other words, not having sufficient clarity and depth in one’s educational philosophy will cause uncritical imitation of flawed theories or cause one to be unconsciously co-opted into the agenda of corporations, or a worldview that alienates one’s spiritual nature as observed by the likes of David Korten, former professor of Harvard Business School, in When Corporations Rule The World (1995).
“The Western scientific vision of a mechanical universe has created a philosophical or conceptual alienation from our own inherent spiritual nature. This has been reinforced in our daily lives by the increasing alignment of our institutions with the monetary values of the marketplace.”
This state of affairs was also observed by our own thinker, Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas, in the 1970s when he warned against the uncritical adoption of the Western higher education model: “In the West, the emphasis on the Sciences and on its technological aspects since the Renaissance till the present day has created problems connected with ‘dehumanisation’, which has shaken the very foundations of the ethical and political systems of the West.”
The true relevance of wisdom from the past (contained in “philosophical” literatures) lies in addressing the fundamental challenges and issues of the contemporary world, such as secularisation of the mind, neo-colonisation and the plight of modern life.
Thus, every university should recognise and acknowledge the centrality of scholars and thinkers (of intellectual and moral integrity) from the field of the humanities by carving a space for them administratively and physically, as they are the beating heart for the intellectual, spiritual and cultural survival of the nation.
MUHAMMAD SYAFIQ BORHANNUDDIN
SENIOR RESEARCH OFFICER, CENTRE FOR ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL STUDIES, INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC UNDERSTANDING MALAYSIA (IKIM)
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times