This paper outlines clear signs of market-led instrumentalisation for HE cultures in Britain, before critiquing the "ontological turn" in HE theory and its intrinsic political abdication from those signs. It focuses on a paper by Ronald Barnett to both diagnose the problem, which is a "precarité" that is ghosted in his work, rather than explicitly posited, before identifying a possible new approach to the problems of the ontological turn in post-foundational humanism. This paper also critiques the philosophical use of the ontological turn per se, particularly in the face of a conservative political shift in Britain. It both agrees and differs with Barnett's advocacy, but ultimately uses his paper as a springboard to an alternative set of philosophical and ethical frameworks that might be offered to replace the ontological turn, along with a full justification. To make that case, this paper outlines the emerging work of Marcus Morgan and the possibility of a neo-humanist, post-foundational turn. This paper ultimately critiques a large philosophical trend within current HE pedagogy, and therefore is of relevance to international HE practitioners of all subjects.