Ultimately, the field of education is inherently purposeful. Debates about purposes
for intervening in learning, and about the most desirable directions for learning, are a
central dialogue in any educational studies. In adult education, these debates are
intimately linked with questions about the common good, and about the kinds of society
that support human dignity, well being and fairness for all. This is not to suggest that
the job for adult education is to prescribe a normative direction for workplace learning,
though some have tried to do so. Amidst the many languages and overlapping
territories, old maps of workplace learning are at best blurred or torn. In fluid regions
where multiple ontologies are acknowledged, refracted through myriad languages and
representations, adult education research could accept a dual challenge. First, as Law
(2009) suggests, to focus on making difference rather than making similarity. To accept
incoherence and messy objects. Whatever approach is adopted, whether tracing different
reals, performing ontological archaeology, comparing different goods, or juxtaposing
messy objects, we might consider delineating – and accepting – difference, rather than
always seeking relations and seamless continuity.