IMAGES OF BILDUNG – AND ITS ABSENCE FROM POLITICAL DISCOURSE ABOUT LIFELONGLEARNING. Studying a sample of what has been written about the conceptsBildung and lifelong learning, we find little connection between the two. Theterm Bildung, mostly used in the hermeneutic tradition, is understood as anindividual’s way of interpreting the world. The skills of interpretation createindividual freedom and a potential to achieve communicative capacity, whichis essential in developing a deliberative democracy. In contrast, with the termlifelong learning, which is mostly found in a political context, the perspectiveof individual freedom in the above-mentioned sense is put to one side infavour of individual adjustment to economic needs. This essay raises ques-tions about the importance of understanding the concept of Bildung in aknowledge-based community.