ABSTRACT
There is an interesting parallel between the sorts of educational commitments and obsessions that arose in the traditions of gnosis and those that emerged in the traditions of episteme. In both cases, one of the major strands of thinking focused mainly on the individual and the other more on collective matters. Rationalists, like those oriented by mystical beliefs, tended to emphasize personal sensemaking, whereas empiricists focused more on the generation of structures and principles that would render formal education a more mechanically efficient process.
