Wholeness as a developmental goal

ABSTRACT Human activity involves interconnections among civic, social, emotional, ethical, spiritual, and intellectual aspects. Recent advocacy for “whole person” education suggests that educators should attend to these multiple dimensions, but it does not provide an account of integration, of what “wholeness” means. We argue that those who facilitate development should encourage mutually reinforcing interconnections among various aspects of the individual, as well as interconnections among individual dispositions and social practices. Wholeness involves a jointly individual/social process of orchestrating others’ voices so as to develop normative stances in changing contexts that demand ongoing adjustment.