IN SEARCH OF THE SOCIAL UNIVERSITY: RAIMUNDO TEIXEIRA MENDES’ CRITICISMO OF THE ACADEMIC INSTITUTION

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to analyze Raimundo Teixeira Mendes' criticism of the creation of a university in Brazil at the time of the empire. In this sense, the justifications of such censorship will be emphasized, first observing the Brazilian social context in the nineteenth century, thus indicating the misstep of this initiative in relation to the most urgent social problems of this context. Teixeira Mendes' arguments regarding his opposition to the construction of a university institution will be examined, considering the orientation inherited from the positivism of Augusto Comte, who considered the university an obsolete social entity and subservient to state power; as well as its considerations around the most urgent educational issues for the country, such as the promotion of free, basic and free education for the population, the promotion of vocational academies, and the extinction of bureaucratic devices that shaped institutions at the service of the Brazilian bourgeoisie. It is expected with this analysis to show that Teixeira Mendes' criticism was pertinent and necessary to the Brazilian reality of his time.