3 ms·
If they called it an academy, would that be better?
by dr_dshiv 4y ago
If they called it an academy, would that be better?
- SeanLuke 4y agoSure? There are lots of resonable terms. And I don't want to denegrate Nalanda nor its historical import. But Bologna invented the concept and coined the term to specifically describe a new kind of institution with certain critical and (for the time) novel characteristics which carry on in modern universities. I think describing Nalanda as a university is like saying the Blue Mosque is a cathedral. It's an impressive and important religious building in of itself: but it's not a cathedral.
- jltsiren 4y agoIf "university" is too specific, "academy" is even worse. Academies in the modern sense can be traced back to the renewed interest in humanities in Renaissance Europe. And the word itself comes from an olive grove named after an obscure mythological figure in ancient Athens.