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ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Persons or Agents: The Ontological Stakes of Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Authors: Torrecilla Pinero, Jesús;

Persons or Agents: The Ontological Stakes of Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

The question of education in the age of artificial intelligence is typically framed in instrumental terms: what skills to teach, what digital tools to integrate, how to prepare students for a transformed labour market. This article argues that the question is not pedagogical but ontological. Drawing on a five-axiom philosophical anthropology — person/thing distinction, irreducibility of practical wisdom, the person as an end, responsibility as constitutive, and the capacity to initiate — we show that the canonical definition of "agent" in artificial intelligence theory maps exactly onto the hyperspecialised professional produced by contemporary instrumentalised education. The correspondence is not metaphorical but ontological: the human being trained exclusively for functional performance, without tools for moral judgment or reflective self-awareness, satisfies the definition of agent point by point. We distinguish two educational models: person-formation (Model A), which cultivates the capacities identified in the axioms, and agent-production (Model B), which systematically atrophies them. Building on companion articles that establish the non-delegability of moral judgment and the role of telos in determining whether AI deployment is humanising or dehumanising, we argue that education is where the telos is formed: the disposition to design technology from the person rather than from the system. The article's most consequential claim is recursive: only persons can choose to form persons; if a generation is educated without the tools of moral judgment, the choice itself becomes impossible — not because anyone prohibits it, but because no one remains capable of making it. This article is the third in a triptych on AI and personhood. The foundational manifesto is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18650485.

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Keywords

personhood, practical wisdom, person-formation, telos, agent, recursive paradox, artificial intelligence, philosophy of education

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average