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TRANSDISCIPLINARITYBuilding bridges

between fields of knowledge,facts, people, cultures

San Jos, Costa RicaFebruary 23, 2010

Basarab NICOLESCU

University of Paris 6, Franceand

University Babes-Bolyai

Cluj, Romania


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INTRODUCTION PROBLEMS OF

TERMINOLOGY

!!Words reduction and reductionism extremely ambiguous

!!Scientific reduction: A to B, B to C, C toD, etc.!!Scientific reductionism and philosophical

reductionism

!!Non-reductionism: holism andemergentism!!Ideology of reductionism is distinct from

the scientific reductionism


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-!there is no ONE science :> 8000 scientificdisciplines

-! there is no ONE religion, ONEculture, ONE tongue> 10000 religions and religiousmovements

> 6000 tongues

HOW CAN WE DREAM OF PEACE?

GENERAL CONTEXT of our world:

economical globalization but

accelerated fragmentation of knowledge


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MULTIDISCIPLINARITY: studying a research

topic not in just one discipline but in several

at the same time

INTERDISCIPLINARITY: mainly transfer 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


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Transdisciplinarity ! word introduced in 1970 byJean Piaget (1896 - 1980)


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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 Objectand Subject

! new knowledge


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LEVELS OF REALITY

Google: 1,400,000 entries!

Levels:

of organization, of integration, oflanguage, of representation, ofinterpretation, of complexity, of

knowledge, of being


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! our experiences!our representations! our descriptions

! our images! our mathematical formulations

REALITY -

that which resists


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REAL

that which is - veiled for ever

REALITY

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


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A UNIFIED THEORY OF LEVELSOF REALITY -

THE TRANSDISCIPLINARYAPPROACH


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METHODOLOGY OFTRANSDISCIPLINARITY3 axioms

1. The ontological axiom

2. The logical axiom

3. The epistemological axiom

Rigourous definition of TD


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THE ONTOLOGICAL AXIOM

OF TRANSDISCIPLINARITY

There are differentlevels of Reality of the Objectand, correspondingly, differentlevels of Reality of the Subject

The key concept of TD level ofReality


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LEVEL OF REALITY

Set of systems invariant under

certain general laws

There is discontinuity between levels

Every level of Reality!

associatedspace-time


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Levels of Reality

of the Object +

Zone of non

-resistance

Restores the

continuity

between levels


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Levels of Reality

of the Subject +

Zone of non-resistance

Edmund Husserl (1859 - 1938)


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TRANS-REALITY

Knowledge is

netherexterior nor interior

HIDDEN THIRD


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Examples

Natural systems:

! quantum level! macrophysical

(classical) level

! cyber-space-time level! superstring level

Social systems:

! individual level! geographical andhistorical community level

(family, nation)

! cyber-space-timecommunity level

! the planetary level


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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


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The combined action of theontological, logical and

epistemological axioms engenderVALUES


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THE LOGICAL AXIOM

The passage from one level of Reality

to another is insured by the

logic of the included middle


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Stphane Lupasco

(1900-1988)


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Included middle

There exists a

third term

T

which is at the same time

A Non-ASymbolic representation of the

action of included middle logic

A Non-A

T

NR1

NR2


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THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL AXIOM

The structure of the totality of

levels of reality and perception

is a complex structure:

Every level is what it isbecause all the levels exist

at the same time


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The complexity axiom is a modern

form of the old principle of

UNIVERSAL INTERDEPENDENCE

Edgar Morin

(b. 1921)


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TD METHODOLOGY AND

FUSION OF HORIZONS

Hans-Georg Gadamer(1900 - 2002)

What is a dialogue?

What is a team?

All of us we have ourprejudices,

our representations our horizon

The true dialogue when we

suspend (temporary) ourprejudices

Something new can emerge only

then crossing of different levels of


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DIALOGUE BETWEEN CULTURES

AND BETWEEN SPIRITUALITIES-!Technoscience: zone of theObject: necessity of conversion

towards values

-!Cultures and spiritualities: crossall the 3 terms {Object, Subject,

Hidden Third}


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HOMO RELIGIOSUS and

HOMO ECONOMICUS" ! Homo religiosus meaning of life, thesacred, the unseen, higher levels ofReality!

" ! Homo economicus believes in what isseen,observed, measured; profane;just one level of reality; irrational forceof technoscience!


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POLYCRISIS Edgar Morin

Edgar Morin and Anne Brigitte Kern, Terre-Patrie, Seuil, Paris, 1993

Inter-relation of different crisis Irrational, chaotic.!Not just ONE solution!Neglected TD source of polycrisis:!

NON-SEPARABILTYSUBJECT / OBJECT / HIDDEN THIRD

" ! Human(nothing is yet human-centered)!" ! Spiritual(something higher than us source of tolerance and

justice)!" ! Cosmic (the role of life and consciousness on the cosmic

scale)!" ! Logic of the included middle!


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" ! WHAT IS REALITY?!" ! Peirce: The world lives, moves and has in

itself a logic of events, which correspondsto our reason.!

Charles Sanders Peirce

(1839-1914)


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WHAT COULD BE REALLY

SUSTAINABLE?!" ! Environment? Economy? Society?

Education? Politics? Religion?Spirituality? Future? Nation? World order?" No one in itself. All of them are inter

-related.!

" ! TD" The only sustainable system is thecosmic system, in all its dimensions, fromthe quantum particle till the most distantgalaxy, going through the human being.!

" ! EVERY LEVEL OF REALITY SUSTAINSEVERY OTHER LEVEL OF REALITY!


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STANDARD VIEW


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MISPLACED BELIEFS!" ! Reductionism!" ! Binary logic!" ! Disciplinary (mono- , multi- and

interdisciplinary) solutions only!


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MISSING DIMENSIONS OF SF

and SD!" ! Individuallevel of Reality!" ! Cosmic level of Reality!" ! Spiritual level of Reality!


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REALITY IS PLASTIC!" ! We are part of the ordered

movement of Reality!" ! Our freedom: enter or perturb the

movement (will of power anddomination)!

" ! Our responsibility build SustainableFutures in agreement with the overall

movement of Reality!


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Lima de Freitas (1927 1998)


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CONCLUSION

" ! TD is an acceleratorof creativity!

THE HUMAN

-CENTERED

GOVERNANCE


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BIBLIOGRAPHY!Basarab Nicolescu, La

transdisciplinariedad

Manifiesto, UniversidadMundo Real,

Hermosillo, Sonora,

Mexico, 2009

ISBN

978-607-7715-00-9

102_basarab nicolescu

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