Drawing together some of the strings on this list, I see us heading in two
broad directions.
One direction seems to be focussed around attempts to categorise the LO
concept, tying it down with all sorts of caveats and "must do s" and
"can't do s," definitions, scientific and pseudo scientific posturing,
laws, rules exclusions, and such like.
Questions and posts in this stream are around:
> "Is this concept or that concept 'real?'"
> Do particular ideas fit into the theory that one list member (or someone
>else) has constructed?
> Debates over definitions
> Clashes of concept that do not work productively as the protagonists seem
>unable to surface their underlying assumptions
> Attempts to differentiate rather than integrate related ideas
This sometimes reminds me of several historical scholasticising attempts.
(So named after the discredited debates of the so-called Scholastic
Philosophers around such topics such as "how many angels can dance on the
head of a pin?")
For example:
-scholastic philosophers "proving" in the 14th and 15the century that the
tropics were too hot for human habitation, all evidence to the contrary
-music theorists "proving" that a particular chord Arnold Schoenberg did
not exist because it was not in a harmony text book
-English literature experts trying to discredit books such as Finnegans
Wake because Joyce's sentences did not grammatical sense
The second stream seems to me about creativity, analogy, dialogue,
exploration, dreaming and imagination.
Questions here seem to be more about:
> How might my professional practice change if I imagine or conceive of an
>organisation or bunch of people being something entirely different to
>conventional constructs?
> How are my ideas similar to your ideas?
> Surfacing of assumptions, cultural perspectives and the like, and being
>reflexive about ideas and beliefs
> Willingness to say "I've learned from you" and even "wow!"
David Bohm once wrote:" The ability to perceive or think differently is
more important than the knowledge gained."
And Einstein is reputed to have said: "Imagination is more important than
knowledge"
If two physicists can get to this point, I'm interested in the opinions
out there. Are we spending too much time counting angels on pinheads?
Thundering, Wondering and Exploring Down Under,
Philip
Philip Pogson
Leadership Development Strategy Consultant
Staff Development Branch
University of Technology Sydney NSW 2007
+61 2 9514 2934
mobile: 0412 459156
"Men stumble over the truth from time to time but most pick themselves up
and hurry off as if nothing happened."
Winston Churchill
--Philip Pogson <ppogson@uts.edu.au>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>