Decline of Ethical Functions of University in the Era of Damnation of Advanced Capitalism

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Mazandaran University

Abstract

The main objective of the present paper is to study the condition of ethical functions of university during the domination of advanced capitalism. The term advanced capitalism is used to describe economic condition of Western societies during the recent decades. The main hypothesis of the present paper is that capitalism, particularly during the past few decades, has left an adverse impact on the ethical functions of university. By ethical function we mean sublimation of human being as a spiritual being and also promotion of social justice. The ethical functions of university have been analyzed from six perspectives, i.e., idealism, liberalism, Marxism, feminism and racial, existentialism, and postmodernism and finally a synthetic approach has been proposed. The findings of the present paper show that during era of advanced capitalism there has been an ethical decline of university in different respects. The findings of the present paper also indicate that the ethical decline of university in the era of advanced capitalism has its roots in the following factors: expansion of class relations and creation of inequality; application of knowledge as an instrument for the domination of interest groups; expansion of gender and racial inequality; and finally, ignorance of the sublime and spiritual aspects of human being and considering him as a thing or a professional workforce and ultimately alienation.

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