Michael A. Peters is Professor in the Wilf Malcolm Institute for Educational Research at Waikato University, NZ, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He is also Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Sociology, BNU, China. He is Executive Editor of Educational Philosophy and Theory and founding editor of several other journals. His latest books are Wittgenstein and Education: Pedagogical Investigations (2017), with Jeff Stickney, and The Digital University: Manifesto and Dialogue (2017), with Petar Jandric.

Ronald Barnett, DLitt (London), PhD (London) is Emeritus Professor of Higher Education, University College London Institute of Education. He has spent a lifetime in establishing the philosophy of higher education as a field, advancing original concepts and practical principles. His latest book is The Ecological University: A Feasible Utopia (2017).

Preface - Michael A. Peters/Ronald Barnett: Introduction: The Very Idea of the University - Part One: The German (Bildung) Tradition - Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804): The Conflict of the Philosophy Faculty with the Theology Faculty. From The Conflict of the Faculties (1789/1992) - Schleiermacher, Friedrich D. E. (1768-1834): A Closer Look at the University in General Terms. From Occasional Thoughts on Universities in the German Sense, with an Appendix Regarding a University Soon to Be Established (1808/1991) - Schelling, F. W. J. (1775-1854): The Scientific and Moral Functions of Universities. From On University Studies (1802/1966) - von Humboldt, Wilhelm (1776-1835): On the Spirit and the Organisational Framework of Intellectual Institutions in Berlin (1809/1970) - Nietzsche, Friedrich (1844-1900): Preface, Introduction and Lecture One. From On the Future of Our Educational Institutions (1872/2009) - Jaspers, Karl (1883-1969): Research, Education and Instruction. From The Idea of the University (1923/1960) - Heidegger, Martin (1889-1976): The Self-Assertion of the German University: Address Delivered on the Solemn Assumption of the Rectorate of the University Freiburg 1933/34: Facts and Thoughts (1933/1985) - Habermas, Jürgen (1929-): The Idea of the University: Learning Processes (1987) - Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1900-2002): The Idea of the University, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. From Hans-Georg Gadamer on Education, Poetry, and History: Applied Hermeneutics (1992) - Part Two: The English and Scottish (Liberal) Tradition - Sedgwick, Adam (1785-1873): A Discourse on the Studies of the University. A Discourse (1833), Psalm CXVI. 17, 18, 19. From A Discourse on the Studies of the University (1833) - Whewell, William (1794-1866): Preparatory Remarks and of the Subjects of University Teaching. From On the Principles of English University Education (1837) - Newman, John Henry (1801-1890): Knowledge Its Own End. From The Idea of the University (1852) - Stuart Mill, John (1806-1873): Inaugural Address at the University of St. Andrews, February 1st, 1867 (1867) - Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888): Sweetness and Light. From Culture and Anarchy (1869) - Moberly, Walter (1881-1974): Aim and Basis. From The Crisis in the University (1949) - Leavis, F. R. I. (1895-1978): The Idea of the University. From Education and the University: A Sketch for an 'English School'; English Literature in Our Time and the University (1967) - Leavis, F. R. I. (1895-1978): Literature and the University: The Wrong Question. From English Literature in Our Time and the University (1969) - Oakeshott, Michael (1901-1990): The Idea of the University, 1950. From The Voice of Liberal Learning: Michael Oakeshott on Education (1989) - Oakeshott, Michael (1901-1990): The Definition of a University, 1967. From The Journal of Educational Thought (1967) - Niblett, William Roy (1906-2005): The Central Problem. From Universities between Two Worlds (1974) - Universities between Two Worlds. From Universities between Two Worlds (1974) - Davie, George Elder (1912-2007): The Vernacular Basis of Scottish Humanism. From The Democratic Intellect: Scotland and Her Universities in the Nineteenth Century (1961) - Minogue, Kenneth (1930-2013): The Academic and the Practical Worlds. From The Concept of a University (1973) - Part Three: The American (Pragmatist) Tradition - Veblen, Thorstein (1857-1929): The Place of the University in Modern Life. From The Higher Learning in America: A Memorandum on the Conduct of Universities by Business Men (1918) - Flexner, J. Abraham (1866-1959): The Idea of a Modern University. From Universities: American, English, German (1930) - Hutchins, Robert Maynard (1899-1977): The Dilemmas of the Higher Learning. From The Higher Learning in America (1940) - Kerr, Clark (1911-2003): The Idea of a Multiversity. From The Uses of the University (1963) - Clark, Burton R. (1921-2009): The Problem of University Transformation. From Creating Entrepreneurial Universities: Organizational Pathways of Transformation (1998) - Bok, Derek (1930-): The Roots of Commercialization. From Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education (2003) - Noble, David F. (1945-2010): Digital Diploma Mills: The Automation of Higher Education (1998) - Part Four: Other Contributions to the Discourse - Ortega y Gasset, José (1883-1955): The Fundamental Question. From Mission of the University (1930) - Ortega y Gasset, José (1883-1955): The Principle of Economy in Education. From Mission of the University (1930) - Lyotard, Jean-Francois (1924-1998): Introduction; The Field: Knowledge in Computerized Societies; The Problem: Legitimation; The Method: Language Games. From The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1984) - MacIntyre, Alasdair (1929-): The Very Idea of a University: Aristotle, Newman and Us (2010) - Derrida, Jacques (1930-2004): The Principle of Reason: The University in the Eyes of Its Pupils (1983) - Bourdieu, Pierre (1930-2002): Preface to the English Edition. From Homo Academicus (1984) - Said, Edward W. (1935-2003): On the University. From Edward Said and Critical Decolonization (2007) - Readings, Bill (1960-1994): The Idea of Excellence, From The University of Ruins (1996) - Readings, Bill (1960-1994): Dwelling in the Ruins. From The University of Ruins (1996) - Name Index - Subject Index.

The Idea of the University: A Reader, Volume 1 is a unique compilation of selected works of the major thinkers who have contributed to the discourse on the idea of the university in the German, English, American and French traditions, dating from the establishment of the University of Berlin in 1810. Readings include excerpts from Kant and Humboldt in the German tradition of Bildung through to Jaspers, Habermas and Gadamer; Newman, Arnold, Leavis and others in the British tradition; Kerr, Bok and Noble, among others, in the American tradition; and Bourdieu, Lyotard and Derrida in the French tradition. Each reading is prefaced with a brief editor's explanatory note. The Idea of the University: A Reader, Volume 1 provides a comprehensive account of the university, and is matched by a second volume of original essays on contemporary perspectives.