Basarab Nicolescu, THE NEED FOR TRANSDISCIPLINARITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION (ppt file), Keynote speaker...
37
THE NEED FOR TRANSDISCIPLINARITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION Istanbul, May 28, 2011 Basarab NICOLESCU CNRS, Paris, France University Babes-Bolyai, Cluj, Romania Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS), South Africa
-
Upload
basarab-nicolescu -
Category
Documents
-
view
239 -
download
4
description
A viable education can only be an integral education of the human being. Transdisciplinary education is founded on the inexhaustible richness of the scientific spirit which is based on questioning, and of the refusal of all a priori answers and all certitude contradictory to the facts. At the same time, it revalues the role of the deeply rooted intuition, of the imaginary, of sensitivity, and of the body in the transmission of knowledge. It is only in this way that the society of the twenty-first century can reconcile effectivity and respect for the potentiality of every human being. The transdisciplinary approach will be an indispensable complement to the disciplinary approach, because it will mean the emergence of continually connected beings, who are able to adapt themselves to the changing exigencies of professional life, and who are endowed with a permanent flexibility which is always oriented towards the actualization of their interior potentialities. If the University intends to be a valid actor in sustainable development it has first to recognize the emergence of a new type of knowledge: transdisciplinary knowledge. The new production of knowledge implies a necessary multidimensional opening of the process of learning: towards civil society; towards cyber-space-time; towards the aim of universality; towards a redefinition of the values governing its own existence.
Transcript of Basarab Nicolescu, THE NEED FOR TRANSDISCIPLINARITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION (ppt file), Keynote speaker...
THE NEED FOR TRANSDISCIPLINARITY
INHIGHER EDUCATION
Istanbul, May 28, 2011
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
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 RESPONSIBILITY
Our 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 disciplines2011: > 8000 disciplines
EXPERT – 1 disciplineIGNORANT - > 7999 disciplines How can we take a realistic decision?
2nd reason2nd 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
Goal : understanding the present world
UNDERSTANDING = KNOWLEDGE+BEING
Finality : unity of knowledgeFinality : unity of knowledge
No opposition between disciplinarity and transdisciplinarity: TD is not indisciplinarity
TD study of the interaction of Object and Subject
new knowledge
QuickTime™ et undécompresseur TIFF (non compressé)
sont requis pour visionner cette image.
« 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 axioms
1. The ontological axiom2. The logical axiom
3. 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
REALITYREALITY
• 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
T
which is at the same time
A Non-ASymbolic representation of the action of included middle logic
AA Non-ANon-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 RelativityA 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
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 BIBLIOGRAPHYMINIMAL 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/
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/
