The aim of the article is to elucidate the reasons why the critical pedagogue Henry A. Giroux, in his recent works, was inspired by the thought (in many aspects completely different) of Hannah Arendt, particularly by her analyses concerning the role of public spaces and the power of judgement in the modern world. The article develops three contact points in which the two distinct paradigms meet. They are: the metaphor of the “dark times”, adopted by Giroux, public spaces and the university.
The purpose of this article is to analyse the changes in the conditions of academic freedom that occurred over the last several decades and to point out the possible ramifications of those changes. Firstly, the author begins by depicting the origins and the meaning of the neohumanistic modern idea of academic freedom and with outlining some of its paradoxes and limitations. Secondly, the classical neohumanistic concept of academic freedom is juxtaposed with new premises of economic neoliberalism, as diagnosed by Michel Foucault. Also the consequences of economic legitimisation of political order for academic freedom are drawn. Ultimately, the author concentrates on the results of economic limitations of freedom for free thinking and its relationship with human moral judgements.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.