Abstract

Contemporary education research predominantly applies data-driven epistemologies, standardised indicators, widely accepted ranks and instrumental policy demands, margining ethical judgment, moral responsibility, and questions of value. This paper proceeds debates on knowing and acting by centring locally grounded ethical formation as a foundational yet under-theorised dimension of higher education. Drawing on Madhok (2020), who argued that “there are not enough concepts to capture and produce theorized accounts of different, historically specific and located forms of worldmaking in ‘most of the world” (p. 395), this paper develops the concept of Tolyq Adam (the holistic person), articulated by the Kazakh philosopher and poet Abai Kunanbayev (1845–1904), as a theory-capable educational philosophy emerging from Kazakhstan, Central Asia.

Abai’s philosophy conceptualizes human development through the integration interrelated concepts such as aqyl (reason), jürek (heart), and qayrat (will). This paper interprets these concepts as mutually constitutive dimensions of ethical formation, linking epistemic judgment, value orientation, and responsible action. Tolyq Adam offers an alternative to fragmented, performative, and competence-driven models of higher education by foregrounding education as a process of ethical self-formation.

Since 2023, this philosophy has been systematically operationalised at Almaty Management University through the Tolyq Adam program developed within the School of Transformative Humanities and Education. At the core of the program lies the LEADER framework, which articulates six interrelated capacities for contemporary higher education: lifelong learning, empathy, analytical and creative thinking, dialogue and discourse, ethics and ecology, and resilience. These principles are embedded across eight compulsory general education courses reaching over 1,000 first-year students annually. In this sense, the Tolyq Adam program operates not merely as a curricular innovation but as an institutional epistemic design that redefines the purpose of general education. Survey data from 2024–2025 indicate substantial student-reported growth across these dimensions, alongside the implementation of more than 100 student-led community projects translating ethical reflection into social action.

Methodologically, the paper employs conceptual analysis and framework synthesis within traditions of educational philosophy. First, it explicates the concept of Tolyq Adam, defining and clarifying its conceptual boundaries and epistemological assumptions while addressing risks of mistranslation and avoiding its reduction to vague or universalised notions of “holism”. Second, the analysis derives three analytically distinct yet interrelated dimensions of ethical formation: epistemic (aqyl), affective (jürek), and volitional (qayrat). These dimensions are synthesised into a conceptual framework that links ethical formation to pedagogical orientations emphasising reflexivity, moral judgment, and the translation of knowledge and values into action.