THE NEED FOR TRANSDISCIPLINARITY

INHIGHER EDUCATION

Istanbul, May 28, 2011

Basarab NICOLESCUCNRS, Paris, FranceUniversity Babes-Bolyai,Cluj, RomaniaStellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS), South Africa

Knowledge in the era of

globalization

Transdisciplinary approach – realistic and even necessary for

survival of universities

Crucial condition: what is reality?

Wolfgang Pauli: «  the formulation of a new idea of reality is

the most important and most difficult task od our time. »

REALITY IS PLASTIC

The only ground of Reality : the ordered overall movementWe are part of this ordered movement: in this sense, Reality depends on us – THE REALITY IS PLASTIC

OUR RESPONSIBILITYOur freedom: enter into the movement or perturb it.Respond to the movement or impose our will of power and domination.Our responsibility: built sustainable futures in agreement with the overall movement.

WHY

TRANSDISCIPLINARITY

IS TODAY NOT ONLY

REALISTIC BUT ALSO

NECESSARY?

1st reason: unprecedented increase of knowledge

Number of disciplines1300: 71950: 541975: 18452011: > 8000

National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel, National Science Foundation (NSF) archives, USA

2011: > 8000 disciplines

EXPERT – 1 disciplineIGNORANT - > 7999 disciplines How can we take a realistic decision?

2nd reason

Fast changes UNEMPLOYMENT

Change jobs once or even several times during human

beings’ lifetime

3rd reason

Advances in neurophysiology

Decisions in complex situations – dominated by

Emotions and feelings

Analytic mind too slow as compared with intelligence of

feelings

Harmony between inner being and outer knowledge

4th reason Globalization

Enormous flux of population – from countries of one

culture, religion, spirituality to another culture, religion,

spirituality

New education – cultivate the dialogue

5th reason

Rapid advances in means of communication

Increased complexity in an interconnected world

The new education has to invent new methods of teaching – new logics

6th reason Globalization

Real world solving problems forces university to interact

with society, industry, banks, ecology, which are

obviously « trans » - they are beyond academic

disciplinaes.

University can become a major force in building

sustainable futures.

MULTIDISCIPLINARITY: studying a research topic not in just one discipline but in several at the same time

INTERDISCIPLINARITY: transfering of methods from one discipline to another

TRANSDISCIPLINARITY: studying that which is at once between the disciplines,

across the different disciplines, and beyond all disciplines

Goal : understanding the present world UNDERSTANDING = KNOWLEDGE+BEING

Finality : unity of knowledge

No opposition between disciplinarity and transdisciplinarity: TD is not indisciplinarity

TD study of the interaction of Object and Subject

new knowledge

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« Transdisciplinarity » word introduced in 1970 by Jean Piaget

DISCIPLINARY

EDUCATION (DE)

TRANSDISCIPLINARY

EDUCATION (TE)

IN VITRO

One level of Reality

IN VIVO

Several levels of Reality

External world - ObjectCorrespondence between

External world (Object) and

Internal world (Subject)

Accumulation of knowledge Understanding

Analytic intelligenceNew type of intelligence -

harmony between mind,

feelings and body

Oriented towards power and

possession

Oriented towards

astonishment and sharing

Binary logic Included middle logic

Exclusion of values Inclusion of values

METHODOLOGY OF TRANSDISCIPLINARITY

3 axioms1. The ontological axiom

2. The logical axiom3. The epistemological axiom

Rigourous definition of TD

THE ONTOLOGICAL AXIOM

OF TRANSDISCIPLINARITY

There are differentlevels of Reality of the Object

and, correspondingly, differentlevels of Reality of the Subject

REALITY

• our experiences• our representations• our descriptions• our images• our mathematical formulations

That which resists

REALthat which is - veiled for ever

REALITYthat which resists - accessible to our knowledge

+ trans-subjective dimension

LEVEL OF REALITY

Set of systems invariant under certain general laws (natural

systems) or under certain general norms and rules (social systems)

There is discontinuity between levels

Levels of Reality of the Object +Zone of non-resistance

Restores the continuity between levels

Levels of Reality of the Subject +Zone of non-resistance

Knowledge is netherexterior nor interiorHIDDEN THIRD

Examples

Natural systems:

• quantum level• macrophysical

(classical) level• cyber-space-time level• superstring level

Social systems:

• individual level• geographical and historical community level

(family, nation)• cyber-space-time community level• the planetary level

THE LOGICAL AXIOM

The passage from one level of Realityto another is insured by the

logic of the included middle

Included middle

There exists athird term

Twhich is at the same time

A Non-ASymbolic representation of the action of included middle logic

A Non-A

T

NR1

NR2

THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL AXIOM

The structure of the totality of levels of reality and perception is

a complex structure:

Every level is what it is because all the levels exist

at the same time

TRANS-REALITY• Levels of Reality of the Object• Levels of Reality of the Subject• The Hidden Third

• organization• structuring• integration

• confusion• language• representation/interpretation

• ignorance• intelligence• contemplation

• objectivity• subjectivity• complexity

• knowledge• understanding• being

• materiality• spirituality• non-duality

Levels ofContextualization

A new Principle of Relativity

No level of Reality constitutes a priviledged place from which one is able to understand all the other levels of Reality

Every level - incompletness Knowledge is forever open

Environment(natural and artificial:QuantumMacrophysicalCyber-Space-Time

A1 non-A1

EconomicT2

TRANS-REALITY

A3 non-A3T3

PlanetaryCosmic

TD OBJECT

non-A2A2

A1 non-A1

TD SUBJECT

A2 non-A2

T3A3 non-A3Political

T2SocialHistorical

Individual

X

HIDDEN THIRD

ReligionsSpiritualities

Cultures

CONCLUSIONS

-The exceptional role of emotions and feelings in education

- Integral education of the human being – mind, feelings, body

- PhD programs in TD (Romania, South Africa)

- TD curricula

- Emergence of continually connected beings

- Transcultural vision

- New TD knowledge – multidimensional opening – civil society, cybers-space-time, universality, values

Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958)

Facing the rigurous division, from the 17th century, of human spirit in isolated disciplines, I consider the aim of transgressing their opposition […] as the explicit myth of our present times”

MINIMAL BIBLIOGRAPHY Basarab Nicolescu, Manifesto of

Transdisciplinarity, New York, SUNY Press, 2002

Basarab Nicolescu (ed.), Transdisciplinarity – Theory and practice, Hampton Press, Cresskill, New Jersey, USA, 2008

Antonio R. Damasio, Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain, San Diego, Harcourt, 2003.

Internet site of the International Center for Transdisciplinary Research (CIRET)

http://basarab.nicolescu.perso.sfr.fr/ciret/