“The necessary university” in the work of Darcy Ribeiro: Notes on a utopian thought

Abstract

By means of an analysis of central concepts in the book, O processo civilizatório, by Darcy Ribeiro, such as the evolutionary acceleration as an antithesis of reflexive modernization – thus the autonomous appropriation of the necessary means in the process of development of a nation – the article examines the meaning of “the necessary university” postulated by Darcy Ribeiro. By doing this, it also suggests affinities between his thought and the one of the Hungarian sociologist, Karl Mannheim, stressing the need to plan society on the basis of the democratization of education itself and of culture in general with a view to overcoming, in the Brazilian case, the backwardness. Being aware of the fact that the reception of Mannheim in our intellectual circles in the decade of 1950 legitimized the formation of a new intelligentsia that intervened in the course of political events, the article situates Darcy Ribeiro in this scenario, as well as his bet on the role of the public intellectual and the ideological commitment of science to the formation of a national conscience in tune with the construction of a democratic society.

Key words: university, public intellectual, nation, development, civilizational process.