Equus Asinus: The Doctor of Philosophy

In the best known lines from Plato’s Phaedrus:

‘But I [Socrates] have no leisure for them [other inquiries] at all.

And the reason, my friend, is this: I am not yet able, as the Delphic inscription [Gnothi Seauton] has it, to know myself; so it seems to me ridiculous, when I do not yet know that, to investigate irrelevant things.‘

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University, from the Latin: Universus, ‘Whole’.

Did you know that by most reliable accounts the world’s oldest University still giving courses is Bologna, founded in 1088 C.E.?

And that it originated in the monastic schools that had been active for nearly 400 years until the University was established? No? And you have a degree from Oxford [1167 C.E.]?

Now what did monks in the 11th century do when not making fine brandies? Monks meditate. Navel-Gaze. Go ‘Inward’.

Now when was the last time your Philosophy Professor suggested a moment’s quiet before discussing Heidegger on the ‘Meaning of Meaning’? Ten minutes of Formal Meditation preceding John Rawls?

You can do a Doctorate in Philosophy today in the best Universities without ever raising the question of the ‘Subject’ doing the Inquiry.

If you suggest that it may be relevant, the Professor will likely take you aside and suggest that you might be better suited for Art History.

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The word ‘University’ is a very specific term for an institution that birthed in the Western historical and religious tradition. There were Institutions of Learning that predated the specific concept of the University, Nalanda or Takshasheela for example, but they are not to be called ‘Universities’.