Bildung is a concept with a rich history in the West-European educational tradition when it comes to the development of a self-world relationship. Recent studies argue that maintaining dualities like subject-object, self-world, in education results in losing the engagement with the world and perceiving the world as a backdrop for human purposes. Alternatively, these studies suggest charting the way forward is to break with subject-object dualities in education, by reconsidering ontological principles, to regain consciousness about, and care for, human-world entanglements. In this article we aim to enrich the concept of Bildung from a new development in philosophy: Object-Oriënted Ontology (OOO). The intent is to show that Bildung can be radically reconceptualized by letting go of traditional dualities. Changing the ontological perspective of Bildung also has epistemological and methodological consequences. In this article we explore ontological, epistemological and methodological consequences of OOO for Bildung. The article is structured as follows. In the introduction we start with a brief historical overview of the development of Bildung over time and make an argument for the reconsideration of ontological principles of Bildung. In the second paragraph we explore OOO’s ontological alternative on subject-object, self-world dualities in education. In paragraph 3 we suggest a synthesis of the concepts OOO and Bildung to conceptualize how the self-world entanglement can be understood following OOO for Bildung purposes. Paragraph 4 shows epistemological consequences of OOO for Bildung purposes, by exploring how to analyze Bildung qualities and develop theory based on Bildung experiences. In paragraph 5 we explore methodological possibilities, based on OOO’s concept allure, to perpetuate Bildung in education. In paragraph 6 we explore how the interplay between theory and allure opens the possibility to enact meaningful wholes with Bildung qualities, to engage with the world through Bildung.

Philisophical exploration: Philosophy of Education, see uploaded file

We propose to understand Bildung as a journey along and through different wholes. Following OOO, Bildung can be understood as an outcome of a fragile coherence of qualities of all kinds of wholes interacting at a concrete moment, so that those involved - pupils and teacher - can experience something of what it means and can mean to take one's place in the world. In this perspective, engagement with the world in education is perceived by addressing the entanglement. The focus of Bildung shifts to gaining experiences of wholes that can be meaningful for Bildung purposes. Based on that conception of Bildung, OOO offers to tensions, eidos and allure, which make it possible to analyze Bildung by weighing experiences of wholes with Bildung qualities against each other. For Bildung it becomes relevant to weigh different qualities of different wholes, so that an educated guess can be made, which implies a coherence between qualities of different wholes. The educated guess is a form of knowledge which following OOO is something different then the truth. However, the coherence of qualities can be a hinge of the hidden beauty of Bildung potential. To enable the possibility of enactment of wholes with Bildung potential, we see four powerful principles in OOO’s concept of allure: imagination, beholding, embodiment and allure. We see striving for wholes with Bildung potential as an ongoing interplay between experiencing, theorization and enactment, as a form of abductive reasoning. With the modesty that Bildung can never be enforced, we see great potential in Bildung as a journey of enacting meaningful wholes. In this perspective, the focus of Bildung is not the autonomous individual, but the focus starts from engagement: the whole that some-one’s wants to be with animate and inanimate things.

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