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Hutchinss ideafa universit

A LL A N B l-. O (f) M

William H. McNeillll l,l'l(TIllNS' UNlVfiRSl'lY

A ntcrnoir ofthe University of(."lticago,I02)- l )Sll

ll)-lpp. University of Chicago Press; distrihttted inthe UK by llemcl I lempstcad: llll). l9,9$.

tl22o.iol7ll-1

Mary Ann DzubackR()lll'R'l M. llU'lClllNS

Portrait of an educator3ii7pp. University of(Thicago Press: distributed in

the UK by Hcmcl llentpsteacl: IBD. .l.'l9.95.0226 l77lll(t

ohert Ilutchins, who was President.later (ihanecllor, of the University of(lticago from I92) until ll)5l, is analmost forgotten figure in the United

States and was hardly, ifat all. known in Europe.He was one of those American types who provokesmiles in liuropeans, a high-minded reformerwith a whiff of evangelism. Education was hiscalling, and. as with so many Americans, hescented to wish to remake the world in a day andto give us instant access to all tlte best things thiscivilization ltas produced; whereas the Old Worldwith its ancestral universities, proud and rooted intheir Htltl-year~nltl traditions. tentl to assume youhave to be to the manor born. ln particular.Hutcltins was preoccupied with liberal education.

kind of education almost unrecognizable to theEnglish. French and Germans whose publicschools, l_vrtc.r and gyritnasitttns are meant toeducate their students in the classics before theyenter the university to specialize.

ln spite of all this, I agree with the authors ofthese two hooks about him that llutchins is aneducator who deserves the attention of F.uro-pcans as well as Americans, not only hecattsc ltcwas the only American university president in thiscentury who made a serious intellectual effort tounderstand the place oftlte (ireck and the biblicalheritage - which was the core of liuropeaneducation ~ in the lives of Americans, but also,and more importantly, because he was a man whowas instittctivcly attuned to the crisis in every-oncs relation to that heritage, a crisis ofwhich weare only too well aware now.

llutcltirts was the prontotcr of the (treat Books,a P. T. llarnum-like formulation which offendsthe ear of the tastclul. llis advocacy only servedto isolate hint among the professors and embar-rass the lltti\'ct'sil_v of (lticago among its peers.The natttral scientists understood themselves tobe progressive and had little interest in the oldclassics in tltcir licld, such as (ialileo and Newton.who were no longer of any real relevance to whatthcv were doing. The new social scientists hopedthat by rejecting the old theorists they wouldappear to be progressive too and persuade thepttblic that they also had made significant scien-tific discoveries. The humattists. to whom thecustody of the (ircat Books was assignerl. weremostly dissecting them philologically with thelatest methods and hardly considered beittginspired by them or living according to them.

Despite the failure oi his attempt to reform theuniversity as a whole in such a way that it wouldaddress the great questions", and ttndcrgradu-ates would read great books", l-lutchins stillexercises a certain fascination. as witnessed by thefact that there have been several books about himin the past few years. These new works by Williamll. lvlcNeil| and hilary Ann lit/tthacl. wereinspired by the University of (fl1'icago's centennial

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Celebration taking place this year. Centennial'.larty good l-nropean would esclaim. ilow can youhave a history in rt mere lllll years? Whenl-lutchins arrived in (hicago in l9}-1) as a refor-mer, hc was trying to reform what had existed foronly thirty-seven years. llis university was themercst of babies, not only in comparison toliologna. Paris. Oxford, Cambridge and all theothers, but also to the universities of the easternUnited States which had been founded more thanZlltl years earlier. llc remained in Chicago fortwenty-one years and departed leaving nothingbehind but a warm afterglow. That's institutionalcontinuity in Atuerica. The interest in Hutchinsmay be connected with the fact that his GreatBooks are now almost officially considered to bethe foundation of the hegemonic structures ofwhite western males", or of Ettrocentrism.Hutchins represents the unabashed advocacy ofwhat for today's American humanists are thecauses of elitism. sexism, racism and homopho-bia, as well as colonialism and a host of other ills.lie is the forbidden charm as surely as wasfipicurus for Jews and Christians in the healthyflower of their faith. He is a good reminder of itvanishing breed at a time when humane letters inthe United States are in a silly season, to be taken,"til 11- btlltlillll to serious intellectual discoursebut as one of those wondrous American sociolo-gical phenomena like prohibition which scandal-irc and amuse foreigners.

llutchins had ideas and a point of view, butthey would have brought him little attention if hehad not been such a striking personality. Heassumed the presidency of the University ofChicago before his thirtieth birthday, after havingserved as dean of the Yale Law School for twoyears. lle had rare good looks. There was hardly amovie star, not to speak of university professorsor administrators. who could rival him in thisrespect. His manner was sovereign. and he spokewith both wit and feeling. He was a debunker ofAmerican society, especially its universities. in away that reminded one of vigorous social criticssuch as H. l-. Mencken, yet his rhetoric wasinformed with an undeniable moral and intellec-tual gravity. lie was almost the only universitypresident whose discourse could be listened to.Most university presidents, and this is more andmore the case, never think about what it means toeducate or to he educated. That is left to thevarious specia itics, and the presidents haveneither the inclination nor the self-confidence tothink about wtat it's all for. Mostly they areconccrrtcd about money and hiring the scientistsanti scholars tesircd by ettttlt of the separatedeparttnents within the university. or they aretryittg to square their ttnivcrsitics with the latestpolitical movements. Hutchins squabblcd withthe established fields and their eminent re-searchers about what knowledge is, and hecompelled them. frequently while angering them.to speak about the presuppositions of theirdisciplines. which they themselves rarely elab-oratcd or questioned.

t was quite a spectacle to see a universityengaged in public discourse about itself andwhat it should be doing. All this wasfrequently accompanied by poignant self-

criticistn by llutrltins ltintself. who was aware ofhis limitations. There was something heroic in hisopposition to the stale conventions of an intellec--tual world empty and shot through with hypoc-risy. ln short. he had a divination of whatphilosophy once meant: the queen of the scien-ces, which ruled and determined the status of thetraits within the whole. (tr, to pttt it aaotlter way,the study of the Socratic question, What is the

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