ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a more systematic account of the role of rhetoric in political ontology. It provides Ernesto Laclau's theory with other conceptions which address issues raised by Laclau’s critics, as well as those which seem to be important for the implementation of Laclau’s thought in educational research. According to Laclau, society is a radical construction that does not stem from any natural or otherwise ontologically fundamental basis; it does not work according to any predestined rationality. Laclau is radically critical towards theories and ideological positions, right or left, that rely on historical necessity, rational objectivity, economical determination, or any other deterministic presumption. The crucial element of Laclau’s theory relates to the question of how such identity is construed. Laclau’s theory provides for significant insight as to the role of education in the ontological dimension of politics.
