Academics or Intellectuals? The Professors of the University of Paris and Political Debate in France from the Dreyfus Affair to the Algerian War

Abstract

Of all the great European universities, the University of Paris is the most paradoxical. Established in 1253, it ceased to exist as a single institution with the Revolution of 1789 and found itself divided into autonomous faculties and colleges. The latter remained divided throughout the greater part of the nineteenth century, only to be brought together again at the end of the century under the title of the University of Paris. However, the habits acquired as a result of this separation of disciplines were such as to ensure that this formally unified administrative body was in reality an entirely empty shell. An esprit de corps existed only at the level of such smaller units as the faculty of law, and the faculties of medicine, letters and sciences. Moreover, this fragmentation of the professorial body was sharper than in other French or foreign universities because of the sheer size of the University of Paris. In terms of student numbers each faculty was more important than every other university in the country.