The mission of the university, a contemporary assessment

Abstract

This article summarises Ortega y Gasset's classic book Misión de la Universidad. It does so by articulating its subject matter with another classic work, La rebelión de las masas. It was the problems set out in the latter that led to the composition of the former, as the main contemporary commentators of the Spanish philosopher propose. Through the formation of the cultivated man, Ortega expects to overcome the problems of the cultural crisis born of mass society. He believes this can be achieved by modifying university teaching so that it conveys the knowledge that is fundamental for man to live in our time. The proposal amounts to educating mass man: the barbarian specialist, the spoiled child and the satisfied lord.