2009 Volume 76 Issue 2 Pages 208-219
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the traditional idea of the university in Germany. It is said that the beginning of the modern university came with the establishment of the University of Berlin that Wilhelm von Humboldt planned. Humboldt's idea is found in the document entitled "Über die innere und äussere Organisation der höheren wissenschaftlichen Anstalten in Berlin". It is known that the idea of the university according to Humboldt is characterized by the unity of research and education. However, Sylvia Paletschek, who is professor at the University of Freiburg, pointed out that the phrase "Humboldt's idea" or "Berlin model" was not known to contemporaries in the 19th century. She argued that there was no evidence that the traditional idea of a university in Germany has its origin with Humboldt or the University of Berlin. She concluded after a thorough examination that the myths of Humboldt and the University of Berlin were created 100 years after its establishment. This paper examines the character of facilities that were called seminars or institutes, the idea the university according to Yoshito Takane, Tokuzo Fukuda, and Helmann Roesler, the History of the University of Berlin and the Prussian Academy of Sciences, and regulations that provided for universities in Prussia in the 19th century. Takane, who had studied law at the University of Berlin, referring to the German universities, proposed to introduce practicums and seminars into the law education at Kyoto University. Fukuda, who studied economics at the University of Munich, considered universitas literarum as an ideal, and explained the importance of seminars. Fukuda emphasized that a seminar was a new feature of universities in the 19th century. However, neither practicums nor seminars started with the establishment of the University of Berlin, because Friedrich Paulsen praised the seminars that existed at the University of Göttingen and the University of Halle in the 18th century. This paper received insight from "Social Administrative Law" written by Roesler. He classified the Übungen into three types. They are practicums that did not use facilities, practicums at seminars, and practicums at academic institutes. Medical clinics and museums of anatomy and physiology are included as academic institutes. Chapter 7 of the Statute of the University of Berlin provided for facilities. Max Lenz described in "History of the University of Berlin" that the University of Berlin acquired facilities from the Academy of Sciences as shown in the plan by Humboldt. Adolf Harnack expressed in "History of the Prussian Academy of Sciences" that it was the largest loss for the Academy. There were regulations similar to the Chapter 7 of the Statute of the University of Berlin in the Statutes of the Universities of Breslau, Bonn, Jena, and Königsberg. Humboldt planned new relationships among the university, academy and facilities. The plan spread from the University of Berlin to other universities in Prussia. In Munich, there was an academy of sciences before a university moved to the city. This paper suggests that there might have been a process similar to Berlin in Munich.
