Ontologically Axiomatic Aesthetics

Our newest member (Mike Bosse) has sent us a recent email that is very helpful in our discussions of Hicks. Without his permission, so be ready for the lawsuits, gang, I quote it below:

Educational philosophy is traditionally divided into five distinct yet interacting domains. Each of the five areas asks and answers one or more specific questions: Ontology asks “What is True?”; Metaphysics asks “What is Real?”; Epistemology asks “What is Knowledge?” and “How Do People Learn?”; Axiology asks “What is Good and Best?”; and Pedagogy asks “How Do We Teach?” (These fields of inquiry provide a minimalist educational philosophy. Often added to these discussions are the fields of Ethics, asking “What is Right?”, and Aesthetics, asking “What is Beauty and/or Pleasurable?”). Answers to each of these questions are necessary for a complete educational philosophy. The interconnectedness of these questions and answers are paramount to developing the internal consistency required within a cohesive educational philosophy. Figure 1 provides a graphic representation of the components of educational philosophy. (Sorry, the figure won’t go to blog)

Axiology, more specifically, is a field of philosophical investigation which considers the question: What is good or best for a person or a culture? Within the realm of educational philosophy, this question takes on a more specific form: What should be learned, by whom, and for what end? Axiological inquiry has foundational implications for curricula, educational goals, and objectives. Axiological concerns are usually predetermined by a theorist’s metaphysical, ontological, and epistemological positions. Any scholarly decisions concerning curricular content and educational goals must be supported by ontological and metaphysical definitions of “truth” and “reality” and an epistemological understanding of how people “learn.”

Now, my monkey in the wrench works here would be, “What is the basis for making Aesthetics and Ontology ‘optional’ to one’s Philosophy of Education?” I have been a champion of the notion that Truth, Goodness, and Beauty are central to education, does this argue against the notion that two of these three are optional in our PoE? Just trying to get folks stirred up…