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

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 movement We 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 disciplines 1300: 7 1950: 54 1975: 1845 2011: > 8000

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

2011: > 8000 disciplines

EXPERT 1 discipline IGNORANT - > 7999 disciplines How can we take a realistic decision?

nd 2
Fast changes

reason
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

QuickTi t un r ss ur TI (non compr ss) dc sont r quis pour isionner cette image.

Transdisciplinarity word introduced in 1970 by Jean Piaget

DISCIPLINARY EDUCATION (DE) IN VITRO One level of Reality

TRANSDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION (TE) IN VIVO Several levels of Reality Correspondence between

External world - Object

External world (Object) and Internal world (Subject)

Accumulation of knowledge

Understanding New type of intelligence -

Analytic intelligence

harmony between mind, feelings and body

Oriented towards power and possession Binary logic Exclusion of values

Oriented towards astonishment and sharing Included middle logic Inclusion of values

METHODOLOGY OF TRANSDISCIPLINARITY 3 axioms 1. The ontological axiom 2. The logical axiom 3. The epistemological axiom

Rigourous definition of TD

THE ONTOLOGICAL AXIOM OF TRANSDISCIPLINARITY

There are different

levels of Reality of the Object

and, correspondingly, different

levels of Reality of the Subject

REALITY
That which resists

our experiences our representations our descriptions our images our mathematical formulations

REALITY that which resists - accessible to our knowledge + trans-subjective dimension

REAL that which is - veiled for ever

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 nonresistance Restores the continuity between levels

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

HIDDEN THIRD

Knowledge is nether exterior nor interior

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 Reality to another is insured by the

logic of the included middle

Included middle
There exists a third term

T
NR1

T
NR2

which is at the same time

Non-A

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

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
Levels of Contextualization

objectivity subjectivity complexity knowledge understanding being materiality spirituality non-duality

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

TRANS-REALITY
TD OBJECT TD SUBJECT

HIDDEN THIRD
Planetary Cosmic Economic
A3 T3 non-A3 A3 T3 non-A3

Political

A2

T2

non-A2

A2

T2

non-A2

Social Historical

Environment A1 (natural and artificial: Quantum Macrophysical Cyber-Space-Time

Individual
non-A1 A1 non-A1

Religions Spiritualities 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/