“洪堡神话”破灭了吗?——基于对德国教育文化史的考察

The Collapse of “Humboldt Myth”?——Based on an Investigation of the History of German Educational Culture

德国能够率先完成大学变革,为现代大学建立树立典范,背后离不开一个关键人物——洪堡。但是自20世纪70年代以来,以本·大卫、吕埃格、帕勒切克、贝格拉为代表的学者们主张重新审视洪堡在高等教育领域的成就。他们质疑洪堡的身份、能力甚至于本人的思想品质,认为德国大学后续发展脱离了洪堡的大学“理想蓝图”,与所谓的“洪堡模式”并无较大关系;洪堡大学理念是德国打出的金字招牌,挽救岌岌可危的世界高等教育地位才是其最终目的。从教育文化史视角来看,大学这一概念与洪堡本人无法分离,无洪堡,大学这个词或许就会断送在保守主义的桎梏之中,洪堡本人在创建大学时的积极行动也显现出其对大学理念的实践作用,他创办的柏林大学以超越旧时大学的领先地位彰显出“洪堡神话”的基质。由此,可以还原“洪堡神话”的历史事实。

Germany was the first to complete the university reform and established a model for modern universities,to which a key figure,Humboldt is indispensable.However,since the 1970s,scholars represented by Ben·David,Rueger,Paleczek and Bergra have advocated a reexamination of Humboldt's achievements in the field of higher education.They questioned Humboldt's identity,ability and even his own moral character,and believed that the subsequent development of German universities has departed from Humboldt's university“ideal blueprint”and had litttle to do with the so-called“Humboldt model”.The idea of Humboldt University is the gold-lettered signboard of Germany,and the ultimate goal behind it is to save the precarious status of world higher education.The truth needs to be objectively explored through cultural history.From the perspective of the history of educational culture,the concept of university cannot be separated from Humboldt himself.Without Humboldt,the word university may be doomed to the shackles of conservatism.Humboldt's proactive actions in creating the university also demonstrated his practical role in the concepts of universities;the University of Berlin he founded shows the matrix of“Humboldt myth”by transcending the leading position of the old universities.Thus,the historical facts of“Humboldt myth”can be restored.