ABSTRACT
That a Prussian civil servant’s memorandum of nearly 200 years ago could be seriously relevant today needs justification. Humboldt’s memorandum dealt with the political situation at the time – Prussia had suffered a total defeat at the hands of Napoleon, and so the proposed relationship of the new university to the state was crucial. Yet, I quote:
The State must not treat its universities either like ‘Gymnasia’ – the most prestigious of the secondary schools – or as special schools, nor use them in either a technical or a scholarly manner. On the whole, it must not demand anything that is immediately relevant and directed towards them, but have an inner conviction that – when they achieve their own objectives – they will also fulfil those of the State, and from a much higher standpoint, a standpoint which makes it possible to cover far more and brings with it quite different strengths and levers than would be directly available to the State.
