Our University-Culture: Introduction

“A society is guided by its ruling philosophy — the prevailing conception of the “good” social order. Some political-economic philosophy must be the basis for intelligent social policy. Forthright and continuing discussion is necessary if this conception is to serve as a clear and coherent guide on numerous particular issues. Otherwise, statesmen and citizens will continue to lose their bearings amid the economic and social complexities of the mid-Twentieth Century.” — James M. Buchanan, economist and Nobel Laureate

In 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses protesting the corruption and abuses of the Catholic Church on the door of the church in Wittenberg. This, and its widespread distribution via the printing press Johannes Gutenberg developed in 1450, began the Protestant Reformation that ended the dominance of the Medieval Catholic Church not just in the religious lives of the people of Western Europe, but in their political, economic, and cultural lives as well. Medieval society was a guilt culture, meaning people were socially regulated by comparing their actions against God’s laws, which were of course promoted and enforced by the Church. Once people were freed to make their own decisions about how to interpret the Bible, once people came to believe they could rely on their own reason to understand the world and make moral decisions, once the printing press made writing…