Neutrality and Impartiality: The University and Political Commitment

by Alan Montefiore, Charles Margrave Taylor, Leszek Kołakowski

First published in 1975, this is a book of general intellectual interest about the role of the university in contemporary society and that of university teachers in relation to their subjects, their students, and their wider political commitments. Alan Montefiore offers preliminary analyses of the family of concepts most often invoked in discussions of these problems, taking the central dispute to be between those who hold a 'liberal' view of the university and those who regard this notion as illusory, dishonest or undesirable. Six academics, representing, discuss issues of substantive conflict in light of Montefiore's initial distinctions. The volume is of particular interest to students of political and social philosophy, and political and educational theory. It is also intended for a wider readership among those who care about the political status of the universities and recognize the importance and difficulty of the problems involved in this.

302 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1973

About the author

Alan Claude Robin Goldsmid Montefiore was a British philosopher and Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He was a co-founder and Emeritus President of the Forum for European Philosophy, as well as Joint President of the Wiener Library, and a Chair of Council of the Froebel Educational Institute.
Montefiore was the son of Leonard Montefiore (1889–1961), who had been the Wiener Library's second president and later its chairman. He is also grandson of Claude Joseph Goldsmid Montefiore (1858–1938), a past president of the Anglo-Jewish Association. Montefiore received an Honorary Silver Medal of Jan Masaryk at the Czech Republic Ambassador's residence in London in November 2019.