ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a rich, multidisciplinary body of literature to suggest how the wisdom of the experiential learning (EL) doctrine might best be understood and adopted. EL has a lexicon of meanings, with foundational roots in many fields and disciplines: complex and multidimensional, the term is influenced by an evolving understanding of the human experience of learning. A core issue that arises from definitional disputes often concerns the extent to which EL might embrace life itself, suggesting that the concept has moved on to the point where the 'distinction between experience and non-experience becomes absurd'. The chapter explores contextual backcloth of episodic, hegemonic understanding of human learning that has influenced EL and presents new working model that, to an extent, reflects this fluid complexity. The chapter suggests that the 'learning doctrine is not the same as practicing the wisdom the doctrine is intended to teach'.
