Neoliberalism in the North American University: Toward Integrating Divisions in Agent Orientation Via a Follettian Differentiated Relational Ontology

This paper uses observations from empirical articles and personal experiences of the authors to explore issues associated with the rise of neoliberalism and academic capitalism in the contemporary public university. It frames these issues as stemming from conflicting ontologies between academicians who adhere to the differentiated individual ontology and university administrators who favor the undifferentiated individual ontology. To overcome the disconnect, a differentiated relational ontology that adheres to principles of Mary Parker Follett and Alfred North Whitehead is proposed. The driving force behind this ontology can be highlighted through a communicated crisis, and a specific application of Follett’s differentiated relational ontology is Ensemble Learning Theory (ELT). A potential limitation of this study is generalizability, because the focus is centered on North American public universities and anecdotes are used to characterize a broader educational problem. This evolution is pertinent to academicians and administrators because the ontological impasse experienced in North American public universities threatens their existence as institutions, and has a broader and potentially negative impact on the quality of educational focus and output

Entrepreneurial Opportunity – A Perspective from the Theory of Forms

The current debate in entrepreneurship literature as to whether entrepreneurial opportunity is discovered or created stems from two mutually exclusive ontological axioms. This article utilizes perspectives Plato, Alfred North Whitehead, and Mary Parker Follett to accentuate the logical fallacies of a objective or subjective ontology. Instead, the differentiated relational ontology may be more germane. Therefore, opportunity, if viewed as purely objective or subjective, contains the same logical flaws as the conscription that reality is purely subjective or objective. Parallels between reality and entrepreneurship are constructed to signify how entrepreneurial opportunity is defined objectively and subjectively and relationality bridges these concept