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In the past years, there has been an intensive discussion on the topic of academic freedom in the university. More precisely, it has been criticized that the university is confronted with a growing intolerance and the request to limit free speech. This contribution takes a case at a German university as point of departure. It shows how the current discussions draw on central figures of the philosophy of Enlightenment. In the first part of the paper, the ideas of free speech following Kant, Mill, and Popper are presented. The second part of the article shows how these positions can also lead to an inversion or instrumentalization of Enlightenment thought. This is illustrated using exemplary statements from the case presented in the beginning of the article. In the third part of the article, the concept of higher education or "Bildung" will be discussed in relation to academic freedom. The guiding principle is an openness toward a pluralistic discourse that is to be framed by societal analysis, civility, and critique.

The article "Erosion of the Culture of Debate? Arguing in the Academic Education Space" deals with the restriction of academic freedom of speech at German universities. It points out an increase in moral and political reprimands in the academic sphere, which leads to a limitation of the culture of debate. The article is based on empirical data and systematic considerations from the DFG project "Academic Freedom of Speech in the Academic Education Space". Various sources are cited that deal with the erosion of the culture of debate at universities, including a statement by the German Association of Universities, a document by a philosophy professor, and a speech by Federal President Steinmeier. The text discusses the significance of the culture of debate at universities, the role of academic speech, and the debate about academic freedom of speech. Various views and problems related to the culture of debate are discussed, with the idea of a university culture of debate also being critically examined. [Extracted from the article]

The article "General Educational Science and the Problematisation of Pedagogical Knowledge - in the Age of AI" discusses the debate about the use of ChatGPT in higher education and emphasizes the relevance of General Educational Science. It is shown how this is realized as a "problem" in current forms of educational research. The article examines the impact of ChatGPT on university teaching and examination and discusses the opportunities, risks, and limitations of using AI models at universities. It emphasizes that the use of AI in higher education influences pedagogical processes of self-reflection and changes the shaping of pedagogy. The functions of General Educational Science and its relevance for problematizing pedagogy are examined, and the effects of algorithmic rationality on higher education are discussed. [Extracted from the article]

What does reflection on educational theory and education today actually aim at, if theory and practice can no longer be formulated as a unity? This article describes the German discourse of educational philosophy and outlines its critical view discussing the "limits of understanding subjectivity". In the following parts it is argued that the philosophy of education of the future will encompass an "economy" as well as an "ecology" of pedagogical or educational knowledge. Here, analyses of contemporary educational practices are brought together with the invention and discovery of other or alternative possibilities.

This paper is concerned with the transformation of the field of early education in Germany. It poses the question whether these changes can be generally related to the German concept of "Bildung"--as denoting the children's autonomous activity of engaging themselves and the world. Investigating film material on practices of documentation in early education the paper seeks to clarify the impacts that "Bildung" has for the constitution of children's subjectivity. Does "Bildung" bring about a regime of individualization that obfuscates modes of sociality and being with? Are there alternative ways to interpret the modes of subjection in observation?

While current literature on examination and testing mostly engages with the objectivity of exams and their procedural logic, this article is concerned with the 'ethical dimension' of examination: Examinations provoke a particular relation to oneself, possibly self-transformation. The praxis of examination entails self-confrontation in the light of the uncertainty regarding that which is expected of the self. Referring to an example taken from the field of early education, four "figures"--positional difference, exposition, identification, and representation--are used in a heuristic manner to elaborate on the ethical dimension in examination. The aim of the paper is to view "examination" from a theoretical point of view focusing on practices, on the one hand, and to analyze the ethical norms and expectations that the self is addressed with in the field of early education, on the other.