The Nature of Man and Educational Administration: a Ternary Function
type: CreativeWork
description: Problem. There appears to be a growing uneasiness with much of current educational administrative theory and practice. It is hypothesized that this is largely due to inadequacies of the fundamental presuppositional platforms upon which these theories, practices, and methods are built. Purpose. The primary purpose of this study is to discover and present the fundamental and broadly generalizable presuppositional platforms upon which the theory, methodology, and practice of educational administration should be built, and to develop and present a theoretical model for the educational administrative function that is built upon these presuppositional platforms. Method. The method may be described as a creative historical dialogue where the construction of a thesis and the gradual elaboration of an idea takes the form of adeductive concept oriented synthesis. Larger meanings are developed from a wide variety of multi-disciplinary concepts. This deductive synthetic methodology is characterized by a high degree of autonomy, creativity, and individual effort. Findings. By subjecting all of reality to a total of man's inquiry, the dimensions of reality are revealed. Therefore, every entity of reality is considered to have an origin (Whence?), to exist in time (When?), and space (Where?), plus an anticipated future destiny (Whither?). Additionally, every entity is characterized by three--physical (What? Who?), pattern (How?), and purpose (Why?)--intrinsic dimensions. This ternary concept of reality appears to suggest a perfect totality, where the origin of the physical materials and the patterns of organization and interaction in a purposive manner have their origin outside of these dimensions themselves. Within this view, man has a ternary nature where the physical, pattern-mental, and purpose-moral-spiritual dimensions are interactively engaged in a developmental yet continuous and dynamic totality of living activity. The methodology of structuralism and a variety of selecte…
abstract: Problem. There appears to be a growing uneasiness with much of current educational administrative theory and practice. It is hypothesized that this is largely due to inadequacies of the fundamental presuppositional platforms upon which these theories, practices, and methods are built. Purpose. The primary purpose of this study is to discover and present the fundamental and broadly generalizable presuppositional platforms upon which the theory, methodology, and practice of educational administration should be built, and to develop and present a theoretical model for the educational administrative function that is built upon these presuppositional platforms. Method. The method may be described as a creative historical dialogue where the construction of a thesis and the gradual elaboration of an idea takes the form of adeductive concept oriented synthesis. Larger meanings are developed from a wide variety of multi-disciplinary concepts. This deductive synthetic methodology is characterized by a high degree of autonomy, creativity, and individual effort. Findings. By subjecting all of reality to a total of man's inquiry, the dimensions of reality are revealed. Therefore, every entity of reality is considered to have an origin (Whence?), to exist in time (When?), and space (Where?), plus an anticipated future destiny (Whither?). Additionally, every entity is characterized by three--physical (What? Who?), pattern (How?), and purpose (Why?)--intrinsic dimensions. This ternary concept of reality appears to suggest a perfect totality, where the origin of the physical materials and the patterns of organization and interaction in a purposive manner have their origin outside of these dimensions themselves. Within this view, man has a ternary nature where the physical, pattern-mental, and purpose-moral-spiritual dimensions are interactively engaged in a developmental yet continuous and dynamic totality of living activity. The methodology of structuralism and a variety of selecte…
author: Coupland, Ralph Moberly
keywords: Education, Educational Administration and Supervision, Higher Education
date published: 1981-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:54:11Z
provider: Andrews University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Andrews University