The Structure of a University a Karatanian Interrogation Into Instrumentalism, Idealism and Community in Postwar British Higher Education, 1945-2015
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Birkbeck Institutional Research Online The Structure of a University A Karatanian Interrogation into Instrumentalism, Idealism and Community in Postwar British Higher Education, 1945-2015 Lee Soo Tian School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Spring 2017 Declaration I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Lee Soo Tian 2 Abstract In this thesis, I endeavour to rethink the history of higher education in the United Kingdom after the Second World War through a framework generated using the work of Kojin Karatani. It explores three distinct perspectives – instrumentalism, idealism and community – which I argue form a triadic structure which, when grasped, opens the way to a heterodox reading of the postwar British university. This tripartite formulation draws from Karatani's work on the “triad of concepts” he locates in different spheres of philosophy, and is developed through a “trans-genealogical” methodology inspired by the historical-philosophical approaches of Michel Foucault and Karatani himself. The thesis can be divided into three parts. In the first part the thesis' methodology is elucidated from the aforementioned work of Foucault and Karatani. In the second part, I trace the development of each of the three perspectives or “questions” in the British university in order to present a counter-narrative to popular accounts which generally divide it into two phases, each characterised by a rupture: first, a social democratic rupture oriented by a principled, idealist vision, and, second, a neoliberal rupture characterised by an economistic and instrumentalist mentality. Contrary to this “two rupture thesis,” I argue for a view which posits an underlying continuity between the two phases, in that the essence of the later phase can, in fact, be found in the earlier phase, which laid the foundations for an instrumentalist university, the first perspective in the triad. Following this, the roots of idealism, the second perspective which appears opposed to the first, are untangled and revealed to be tainted by instrumentalism and fundamentally untenable. The third perspective of community is then investigated, with a focus on its contemporary manifestations. To end this second part, an alternative vision of higher education, which I call an associationist university, is explored and found to be a productive horizon to be approached but less helpful for immediate action. In the final part, I propose a way of dealing with the co-existence of the three questions or perspectives within the university at present. This way is founded upon the idea of vocation. Various tensions, such as that between partiality to one or more of these perspectives and attempts at integration, are interrogated. To flesh out these dynamics, the sphere of British critical legal theory is taken as a case study. The thesis concludes with a plea for a university that is grounded on the principle of transcritical oscillation. 3 To Frosty, Smiley, Kuda and Ivan 4 Acknowledgements A PhD thesis is like a hearty pot of stew in that it manifests in physical form an infinite amount of relations between things in the world. Of these, only a select few can and must be spoken of, due to their gentle distinction within the complicated swirl of forces. I would like to profusely thank Peter Fitzpatrick for so kindly encouraging me to begin this doctoral journey and for overseeing its development for the first six years. In particular, his passion for the academic adventure, combined with his matchless rigour and precision, was crucial in pushing me to seek for better questions and deeper answers where my initial guesses proved to be very much inadequate. I am greatly indebted to Nathan Moore for shepherding this thesis through its final year and a half with his gracious yet penetrating examination of the working out of its main ideas. His readiness to engage with even its strangest twists and turns, sometimes reorientating the discussion by simply ignoring the most left-field elements and allowing them to drop out of the picture by themselves, was a great assistance to this mercurial writer. For all his support, I am truly more thankful than words can express. The community of Birkbeck Law School has been an incomparable sphere to pursue the romance of intellectual-creative enquiry within the context of political engagement, and vice versa. So many of its denizens – past and present – have contributed to the making of this thesis. At key moments during troubled times, interventions from Elena Loizidou, my pastoral supervisor, and Thanos Zartaloudis were crucial in saving it from complete shipwreck. In all times and seasons, however, I have been blessed by friends and comrades such as Anastasia Tataryn, Başak Ertür, Carolina Olarte Olarte, Chris Lloyd, Enrique Prieto Rios, Erdem Erturk, Hannah Franzki, Kanika Sharma, Laura Lammasniemi, Lisa Wintersteiger, Lucy Finchett-Maddock, Marcus Matos, Mayur Suresh, Paola Pasquali, Richard Bowyer, Simon Behrman, Tara Mulqueen and Vic Ridler. Beyond the immediate institutional context, Irina Chkhaidze has been a constant source of strength, inspiration as well as just simple fun and honest companionship. Probing comments from Malik Ajani encouraged me to reorient the thesis' direction midway through my writing when I was still in semi-denial that the line of argument I had been 5 pursuing was a dead end. Ayman S likewise gave me invaluable advice at a crucial moment in the final stages. In my unexpectedly-adopted home of Oxford, Marek Sullivan, Max Harris and – before she left for warmer places – Christine Hobden have been wonderful co-pilgrims on the journey of reflection, writing and argument. I am also grateful for fellow thinkers and activists whom I came to know during and after the student uprisings in 2010/2011. Moreover, this thesis would not have come into being if not for my fellow comrades in the “Save Middlesex Philosophy” campaign, and may have not survived without invigoration from friends in the effort to “Save Philosophy at Greenwich.” Special mentions are due to Isabeau D, Johann H, Malise R, Clarrie P, 'Sel' T, Lloyd D, Ellese E, Perry S, Saffron G, Jacob S, Richard B, Jacob B-R and Rory R. Many thanks to the communities of the London Catholic Worker and Oxford Catholic Worker, where I lived for most of the period in which this thesis was written, especially Martin, Conor, Ciaron, Susan, Miriam, Mena and Clive. Muchas gracias also to Jonny and Jojo, my brothers presently in black and blue. The parish community of Cowley St John in East Oxford has been a bastion of support in both mundane and most difficult days, especially Ruth and Martin Conway, Sabina Alkire and John Hammock. At the risk of oversimplifying the story, the former two graciously provided me with a home when I was in great need of one, the latter two with hope when it seemed lost forever. Space unfortunately does not permit me to mention by name many of the wonderful friends who have been there for me in manifold ways during this Long Walk that has often felt more like Wandering in the Wilderness. I am comforted that you folks know who you are, even as I am aggrieved by not being able to thank you more explicitly. Nevertheless, I cannot avoid mentioning Benessa Tiong, Koralie Wit and Sarah Epstein. None of this would have been possible if not for the unflagging support of my parents, Doreen Khoo and Lee Kok Tee, as well as my sisters, Lee Sze Yuen and Lydia Lee. A thousand thanks to them, jointly and severally, for their gracious cheering on of, faithful prayers for and great patience with me, their not-always-easy-to-handle flesh and blood. Lastly, special thanks to Hui-En, the penultimate force behind the completion of this thesis. To you, dearly beloved being of passion and compassion, unto the ages of ages. D.G. 6 Contents Prelude: Ruins 8 Introduction 10 A Preliminary Note 17 1 On Trans-Genealogy: Towards a Historical-Philosophical Method 21 1.1 On Genealogy, or a 'History of the Present' 22 1.2 From Genealogy and Transcendental Retrospection to Trans-Genealogy 31 1.3 The Questions of the University 43 2 A University Not For Itself: The Rise of Instrumentalism 54 2.1 The University Without (its Own) Content 55 2.2 Postwar Keynesianism and the Dawn of Economistic Instrumentalism 58 3 Self-(Mis)understanding After the Fact: The Formation of the Idealist Conception of the Public University 79 3.1 The University with a Single, Unifying Ideal 80 3.2 The Public University and its Founding Myth 85 3.3 Examining the Structural Place of the Public University 100 4 Torn Between Common Life and Individualism: The Thorny Issue of 104 Community 4.1 Community and its Discontents 106 4.2 The Postwar British University and Community 113 4.3 Prolegomena to an Associationist University 133 5 Singularity, Particularity and Structural History: On Personal and Collective Vocations in a Plural University 143 5.1 On the Singular Person and the Specific Context 147 5.2 Vocation 155 5.3 Partiality and Integration in a Web of Pluralism and Exclusivism 176 6 Test-driving the Vocational Hypothesis: The Conceptual Triad in British Critical Legal Thought 189 6.1 The Partiality of Triads 190 6.2 The Triadic University Meets British/European Critical Legal Theory 197 Conclusion 213 Bibliography 219 7 Prelude: Ruins “Take a look around you at the world you've loved so well, And bid the ageing empire of Man a last farewell, It may not sound like Heaven, but at least it isn't Hell, It's a brave new world, With just a handful of men.