A reflection on the relationships of the culture of marketization of knowledge and the university

In our time, knowledge and university have developed so deeply that the traditional borders among theoretical and practical reason, and technology have been overridden and a very complicated relationship has emerged among the three realms. What is called ‘marketization of knowledge’ or ‘commercialization of knowledge’ is going to become a criterion for the evaluation of all human faculties including both theoretical and practical reason, creativity, and their outcomes. The phenomenon of commercialization of knowledge needs to be reflected upon since it is going to turn into the unique game that urges all universities throughout the world to follow its rules. Our society and its universities are no exceptions to this effect. Nevertheless, the challenges raised against the idea of commercialization of knowledge are valuable and need to be reflected upon. The appeal to the sublime in a postmodern interpretation which Lyotard (1982) is looking for, or taking refuge in practical reason and justice that Readings (1996) suggests or the university of beauty that Bearn (2000) talks of are all alarms echoing the rapid process of commercialization of knowledge and university. There is, however, a capacity in our society for challenging this idea and that is the longstanding tradition of truth-seeking knowledge and research which considers the essence of knowledge as truth and never reduces it to profit and workability. However, the interrogation of this tradition has not yet been undertaken seriously and this essay is an attempt to make this observable. The method used in this essay is concept analysis.