Clear Stream Of Reason

JNU is emblematic of the liberating potential of the humanities

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’.