A Propósito de João Boavida y el Debate sobre las Finalidades de la Educación Superior: Los casos de John Dewey y José Ortega y Gasset

Abstract

According to João Boavida, universities must face today the great challenge of joining the traditional purpose of educating the intellectual elites in the tradition of the scientific requirement of academic disciplines, with the desire for democratization of access and the subsequent overcrowding. Boavida thus enter into the debate about the idea of the university which over the last century have involved leading thinkers of many countries. In this article we trace the voices of José Ortega y Gasset and John Dewey. In the light of recent contributions from Boavida, the article reconstructs a fictitious conversation between both philosophers about the aims of higher education and their articulation with social changes.