My rationale for generating my living educational theories has
transformed/evolved over the years.  The first transformation occurred in
1971 when I recognised a mistake in the dominant view of educational theory
known as the disciplines approach. In this view educational theory was
constituted by disciplines of education, the philosophy, the sociology, the
psychology and the history of education. The mistake was in rejecting the
validity of explanations given by practitioners, for their educational
influences in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the
learning of social formations. The mistake was in the belief that these
explanations should be replaced by the explanations in the conceptual
abstractions from the theories in the disciplines of education.
 
My recognition of this mistake transformed my vocation in education from
that of a secondary school science teacher to that of a university
educational researcher working to produce valid forms of educational theory.
I joined the University of Bath in 1973 with the intention of contributing
to the generation of valid forms of educational theory. In the late 19702
and early 1980s  I began using the idea of a living educational theory to
distinguish the unique explanations that individuals could generate for
their educational influences in their own learning and in the learning of
others. My choice of the word ‘living’ was influenced by Edvard Ilyenkov’s,
question – ‘If an object exists as a living contradiction, what must the
thought (statement about the object) be that expresses it.”  I experienced
myself as a living contradiction whilst exploring the implications of
asking, researching and answering my question, ‘how do I improve what I am
doing?’ I called the explanations I offered for my educational influences in
learning, my living educational theories.

The next transformation in my rationale occurred at the beginning of the new
millennium in a conversation with Alan when he demonstrated his
understandings of ‘boundaries’ in inclusionality. You can access this 5.08
minute demonstration at 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yVa7FUIA3W8 .

Having understood Alan’s meaning of inclusionality as a relationally dynamic
awareness of space and boundaries as connective, reflexive and co-creative,
I continue to explore the generation and evolution of living educational
theories in relation to Alan’s ideas of an evolutionary inclusional
understanding.
 
At the heart of my rationale for living theory is the experience of a flow
of life-affirming energy with values that appear to me to carry hope for the
future of humanity, and my own. I experience this flow of energy with a
feeling of well-being when you share your stories of your life. I am
thinking of your stories in which you communicate your values and
understandings as the explanatory principles you use to give meaning and
purpose to your ways of being and what you are doing. At the heart of my
rationale is the belief that by spreading more widely the influence of our
unique living educational theories I am helping the world to become a better
place to be while enhancing the quality of my own loving and productive
life.  Later today or tomorrow I’m hoping to post in the thread on
explaining educational influences in learning. I’ll be taking seriously
Alan’s point about transforming the 'rationale' into an 'inclusionale' (Alan
– I’m imagining you smiling with your impish humour as you wrote this but
I’m going to explore the implications of taking this idea seriously!).  I’m
going to see if I can do this by relating to the postings in this thread
started by Joan on Rationale for Living Theory and to the extract from the
conference call for papers sent by Brian on Cosmos, Nature and Culture:

“How might we go about a search for meaning, for what is "real and
important" to ourselves? Is this a spiritual quest? A philosophical
practice? An empirical exercise? A potential scientific discovery? How do we
best approach this search, or are these questions somehow flawed? Is there
such a thing as "natural law," and can it help us to know who we are and how
to live? Is there a relation between, in Kant’s words, "the starry heavens
above me and the moral law within me"?”

Love Jack