Ontological Foundations of Multicultural Education

Abstract

This research was conducted with the aim of examining the ontological foundations of multicultural education by way of a qualitative method of a philosophical research: conceptual analysis. The research scope included all the books, journals, documents, and writings, where for sampling due to a plurality of sources in this area all the printed and digital writings available for the researches were applied. In this research, to collect the information sample notes designed by the researcher were used. The analysis in this paper was done by way of concept analysis, concept interpretation and theoretical inference. Research findings revealed two major philosophical roots and foundations of the multicultural education which are: postmodernism and critical theory. Postmodernism involves implications that explicitly imply multicultural education. These implications are: attention to "another", "honoring the distinction", and "protection of minorities". According to the research findings, ontological foundations of multicultural education: insisting on removing and ending metaphysics; denying absolute, fixed and priori realities; emphasis on differences bout realities; denying a concrete and independent reality; formation of realities in line with needs, interest and cultural traditions; and attention to "virtual reality".

Keywords: Education, Multicultural education, Philosophical Foundations of multicultural education, Ontological Foundations of Multicultural Education.