The University Experiment in a Reactionary Age

Abstract

The article analyzes the contemporary crisis of the public university through the Argentine case, situating it within the broader transformations of democracy, the crisis of authority, and the rise of new reactionary and techno-libertarian currents on a global scale. Through a historical reconstruction of the Argentine university from the 1918 University Reform to the present, the text argues that the university constitutes not merely an educational institution but a central political form of modern democratic experience, linked to the production of citizenship, public knowledge, and social mobility. It also examines the impact of the digital transformation of the public sphere and contemporary anti-statist critiques on the legitimacy of expert knowledge, while proposing to rethink the defense of the university from an experimentalist and democratic perspective inspired by American pragmatism.