Uniwersytet jako pozór racjonalności

This article addresses the effects of university reforms implemented in Poland over the last decade. The author notes that changes implemented in the name of rationalization” and “effective publication of research results” are perceived by a significant portion of university staff as dysfunctional and linked to purely arbitrary evaluation criteria (replacing academics’ own goals and norms). This is the starting point for posing the question of the “apparent rationality” as a characteristic of the university, drawing on the concept of appearance from Hegel’s Science of Logic. An intermediary link, supporting the development of a unique cultural studies conceptualization, is Jan Lutyński’s theory of “apparent activities,” cited in the article, and Jadwiga Staniszkis’s use of the category of “Hegelian appearance” as a framework for analyzing the institutional order of the communist era. In seeking answers to the question of what constitutes “rational action” for various actors in the academic field, additional findings regarding academic beliefs, values, and norms are being formulated. These findings are formulated through the dual lens of a “humanist interpretation” and a “functional-genetic explanation” that abstracts from subjective beliefs, drawn from Jerzy Kmita’s cultural theory.