Academic Freedom and the Open Circle

Abstract

This chapter provides a historical and epistemological analysis of academic freedom as presented by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and supports its procedural guidelines but criticizes the way in which it associates reliable knowledge almost exclusively with scientifically based knowledge. It describes three types of universities: the closed circle, the marketplace of ideas, and the open circle, defending the last model as the most valuable for Catholic universities to embrace in the twenty-first century. It argues that even though the open circle model is the most difficult to sustain, it points the best way forward, academically and theologically.