espanolEste trabajo tiene como objetivo realizar una breve sintesis teorica que permita comprender algunos supuestos filosoficos de la modernidad y postmodernidad, de tal forma que se resalten los escenarios criticos de este fenomeno cultural e historico de la racionalidad en su crisis paradigmatica. El contexto de este analisis tiende a generar una hermeneutica critica acerca del sentido instituido que porta la Educacion Superior de cara a los desafios de la globalizacion, en especial, tal como es receptora en America Latina. EnglishThe objective of this paper is to make a brief theoretical synthesis that allows us to understand some philosophical assumptions of modernity and postmodernity, in such a way that the critical scenarios of this cultural and historical phenomenon of rationality in its paradigmatic crisis are highlighted. The context of this analysis tends to generate a critical hermeneutics about the instituted sense that Higher Education carries out in the face of the challenges of globalization, especially as it is received in Latin America.