The Meta-Crisis in Education: Towards a Complex Integral Realist Theory of Education and Affective Axiological Orientation

Abstract

There has been increased attention on the nature of affect and emotion, as well as renewed calls for reconsidering the nature and purpose of modern education in light of the many challenges our species faces at the dawn of the 21st century. Drawing on, and beginning with, the emerging discourse on the meta-crisis, this thesis is a theoretical journey that explores the potential integration of several lines of enquiry to construct a model of affect and emotion to be used within education that could help present and future generations face these challenges. Theoretical exploration of the challenges faced by humanity at this moment in our history reveals that our current capacities as a species may be insufficient to effectively deal with the complexity of the challenges we face: a meta-crisis. This research argues that one of the dominant underlying causes of this meta-crisis is our perceptual separation between subject and object; mind and body; nature and nurture. Drawing on, and integrating, several meta- theories that attempt to heal this rift in consciousness, this research creates a tentative new theory of education and a new methodology for educational research: a Complex Integral Realism. Utilising this methodology in theoretical research, this thesis explores and presents an embryonic model of affect and emotion to be used in education that attempts to heal this rift and points towards a new approach to educational theory, policy and practice. ii The model of Affective Axiological Orientation presented in this thesis draws upon and integrates theories, models and empirical evidence from numerous fields to create a tripartite model of affect and emotion, psychological development, and cultural values. These mutually, co-creating and inter-penetrating layers of affective experience help to explain the ways in which we orient ourselves affectively in our pursuit of knowledge, sociality, and in developing our own agency.