‘The university that waits for!’: proposals for higher education in intellectual speeches of generation 1870

Abstract:

This article presents an understanding of ideas defended by six intellectuals of the ‘1870 generation’ about the creation of the university in Brazil from 1870 to 1889. From the history of intellectuals and the use of different typologies of sources, it was possible to consider that the University implantation should wait to be understood now as a synonym for centralization and monopoly of knowledge, now as an ultimate goal, the result of a gradual reform of public education. In the speeches analyzed, even if the country's progress and the freedom of science were sought, the financial, political and social conditions of the Empire did not allow contemplating the creation of the university as a better alternative to the problems of higher education in Brazil.

Keywords:
higher education; history of intellectuals; history of education; educational projects