Creative Love in Heutagogy: Reconciling Learner Autonomy and Value Inheritance

Abstract

This paper develops the concept of Creative Love as a theoretical expansion of Whatever Love, grounded in Agamben's thought, to resolve a central dilemma in heutagogy: how to preserve self-directed learning autonomy while inheriting transformative educational values. Based on Critical Educational Theology principles, Creative Love creates a mutual relationship generating a space of mutual self-directed learning. In this process, each participant's existence “creates” the other's consciousness by serving as an existential boundary that enables self-discovery, with values reflecting the existential necessity of this mutual interdependence. The framework offers practical implications along with ideas for empirical research to examine its implementation.