Published July 2025
in Volume 23 – Number 1 of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics
written by Jeremy Horne PhD
Wikipedia on “education” raises the process-product debate, the tension between epistemic content and practical skills, and the role of experience. “Education” is often treated as a “that”—an object or a process—or as an “is,” something explicitly internal, residing within us. Philosophy is always present beneath the surface, especially in the ontological (the study of existence, reality, or being) and teleological (the study of purpose or goals) dimensions of the education debate. For there to be purpose, there must first be a thing that exists—an ontological foundation—from which purpose can arise. Neither deontology nor intention can generate goals on their own, because some entity must produce the goal—there must be a telos, and that implies the presence of a being, an origin, a self capable of generating intent. C. W. Churchman’s 1962 The Design of Inquiring Systems argued that systems, including education, are inherently teleological—purpose-driven—but this is not sufficient; ontology is also essential. To clarify the meaning of education, I begin with a dictionary-etymology sequence and follow the word “educate” back to “educe,” meaning to draw out from—suggesting the existence of latent potential. Further word analysis leads to “knowledge” as something being imparted or taught, forming a chain of concepts—educate, educe, knowledge, recognize—all of which imply that education is ultimately a leading-toward-knowing, or more precisely, a leading toward self-recognition: the essence, the self, the origin, the one for whom purpose exists. Dialectically, the individual only exists in relation to others—society—and vice versa. This is echoed in UNESCO’s “Four Pillars of Learning”: to know, to do, to live together, and to be, each one crucial for the development, location, and characterization of identity. The Authentic Systems identity probe addresses this directly by framing life as purposeful (praxeology, in line with Churchman’s view of systems) while also grounding it ontologically. Necessarily, philosophy undergirds Authentic Systems, standing as the co-equal of education in giving substance and force to one’s identity. LINK TO FULL TEXT