John Henry Newman’s Idea of a University as Critique of Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarian Conception of Education

Abstract

The main thesis of this article is that Newman’s famous Idea of a University cannot be fully appreciated without the background of the educational programmes popularized in the first half of the 19th century, which have their matrix in the utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham. The comparison of these two thinkers shows that Newman built his system of education and arrived at its basic principles precisely by refuting the principles of utilitarianism and liberalism of his time. From this perspective, his work on education no longer remains a quiet prose, but can be seen as a moral and cultural struggle over fundamental values.