For Newman, knowledge is an exercise of the intellect to develop the habit of viewing the objects as a unity, like an encyclopaedia, or a circle or a concert. Knowledge is not only a result of the “passive†action of the memory, but the “active†action of the intellect. Knowledge is an education of the intellect to become a gentleman related to liberal knowledge (knowledge for knowledge) and to be a useful man related to useful knowledge. These aims are natural and secular. As a Christian, Newman needs more. Newman needs a religious knowledge also. Newman refuses to separate thinking about religion from other kinds of thinking. He wants an integral knowledge; Newman wants an “integral†education for an “integral†man. The appropriate place for an integral education is a university. In a world that is moving towards a society based on diversity, fragmentarity, discontinuity, multi-versity, Newman wants a society based on unity in diversity, based on “uni-versityâ€.
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