St. John Henry Newman—The Idea of a University | Knowledge Its Own End

By James T. Majewski ( bio - articles - email ) | Feb 10, 2023 | In Catholic Culture Audiobooks (Podcast)

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“The artist puts before him beauty of feature and form; the poet, beauty of mind; the preacher, the beauty of grace: then intellect too, I repeat, has its beauty, and it has those who aim at it.“

In 1854, Newman was invited to Dublin by the Catholic Bishops of Ireland to serve as rector for the newly established Catholic University of Ireland, now University College, Dublin. Though he retired after only four years, during this time he composed and delivered the lectures that would become The Idea of a University.

What is the point of a liberal education? What is the use of philosophy? What good is knowledge in general? These questions and others like them are the consideration of Newman’s fifth discourse on university studies, in which he answers that the study of philosophy and acquisition of knowledge is a sufficient end and good in itself.

Links

Cluny Media edition: https://clunymedia.com/collections/john-henry-newman/products/the-idea-of-a-university

The Idea of a University full text: https://www.newmanreader.org/works/idea/

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