Abstract

The purpose of the study is to describe Kenneth Boulding's general social philosophy; report Boulding's thoughts about learning and education; locate, assemble, and articulate existing discourse-units critical of Boulding; summarize and evaluate the specifically education-related criticisms of Boulding; and, rationally reconstruct Boulding's philosophy so as to engender or identify some of its education-related implications. The dissertation consists of five chapters . Chapter 1 introduces and outlines the investigation. Chapter 2 describes Boulding's general social philosophy, based on his Ecodynamics. Chapter 3 presents Boulding's thoughts about learning and education, based on The Image and his Collected Papers. Chapter 4 locates, assembles, and articulates existing criticisms of Boulding. Chapter 5 summarizes and evaluates the specifically education-related criticisms of Boulding; then Boulding's philosophy is rationally reconstructed so as to engender or identify some of its education-related implications, by asking the following leading question: "What would the structure of 'Boulding University' look like, and what is its mission for world leadership?" ;The dissertation locates, assembles, and articulates 137 discourse-units critical of Boulding; summarizes and evaluates 36 education-related criticisms of Boulding; and, articulates the implications of Boulding's philosophy for the structure, mission, and curriculum of a twenty-first century university. It is concluded that Boulding's core curriculum would teach how to learn as an ongoing lifelong process; and, how to think globally as a context for the advancement of moral identity