ABSTRACT
Ontology signifies a concern with being, 'nature' or essence. Ontology is concerned with 'being', concerned that is with questions of the very nature of things, whether that be all things taken together ('Being') or with particular things ('beings'). For Heidegger, ontology was of the utmost importance. He claimed ontology had been forgotten by western philosophy, to the detriment of our thinking and our knowledge of things. The significance of ontology, or of the ontological dimension, resides in its fundamental nature. Education is perhaps the greatest possible example of ontotheology at work. It is generally assumed in our world, in our culture and certainly in our political discourses, that education is generally a good thing and that education is also an important feature of democracy, that education is a gift that potentially grants all sorts of benefits on those who receive its blessings.
