Liberating Facts: Harman's Objects and Wilber's Holons


Oral S. B.

STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY AND EDUCATION, vol.33, no.2, pp.117-134, 2014 (AHCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 33 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2014
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s11217-013-9378-z
  • Journal Name: STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY AND EDUCATION
  • Journal Indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.117-134
  • Keywords: Facts, Re-enchantment, Ken Wilber, Holons, Graham Harman, Objects, Object-oriented ontology
  • TED University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

In this paper, an account of two novel ontologies is given to point to the need to revise the status of facts in school curriculum. It is argued that schooling is in dire need of re-enchantment. The way to re-enchant schooling is to re-enliven the world we inhabit. We need to fall head over heels in love with the world again. In order to do that, we need to shake up our conception of "the hard and cold facts of the world" to make the latter come alive radiating vibrancy and luminosity out into the world. Facts have to be liberated from their "cold and hard" status and become things that captivate us with their uniqueness and dynamism. To the extent that facts enchant (instead of merely re/present the world), working with them leads to educative experience. To work out how to let the facts do that, two thinkers and two ways to reconceptualize 'facts' are discussed: Graham Harman and his objects, and Ken Wilber and his holons.