Clear Stream Of Reason

JNU is emblematic of the liberating potential of the humanities

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When instrumental interests invade the lifeworld and the meaning of education is reduced to mere consumption of market­friendly techno­managerial skills, we begin to experience a threat to the core princi­ples of democracy: a spirit of dialogue, a critical pedagogy capable of deconstuct­ ing the ‘official truth’, and a mode of liv­ ing enlightened by heightened sensitivity and the interpretative art of understanding the psychic, cultural and spiritual domain of existence. The one­dimensional thought that emanates from a mix of scientism, technocracy and consumerism, to use Herbert Marcuse’s prophetic words, breeds the ground for a ‘new form of social control’.