A collection of essays on transdisciplinarity.
1.- Reductionism: from science to culture and every day life “The vision of Nature in any given era depends on the imagination prevailing in that era which, in turn, depends on a multitude of parameters… Once formed, the image of Nature acts on all fields of knowledge” (Manifesto of Transdisciplinarity) Why are we concerned about…
The historical attempts to achieve a “universalis scientia” since the Modern age have always crashed against the permanent temptation of syncretism1. This paper is a continuation of a paper presented at the 2005 Metanexus Meeting, where it was proposed some essential issues to consider for an integration of knowledge: a. The level of reliability of…
Introduction to Theme This paper presents two claims: (1) Attachment is a universal thread that holds the fabric of life together and (2) Anabaptist theology theorizes Christian community and relationship with God in ways that identify attachment for human flourishing and social peace. We expand the first claim by describing the necessary biological bases for…
The same organizing forces that have shaped nature in all her forms are also responsible for the structure of our minds. —Werner Heisenberg1 While many universities and colleges have only recently begun moving toward multi-and interdisciplinary programs and offerings, transdisciplinarity, a concept that first appeared on the academic scene in the early 1970s, has become…
Introduction. Logic and Contradiction Transdisciplinarity is about man, man and the reality of which he is a part. Transdisciplinarity is thus about human successes – progress and creativity, but also failures and regression, or virtue and vice in the traditional expression. In a word, it must account for contradictions and inconsistencies, as well as the…
Hyper-specialisation is a rather recent problem of modern societies. In distinction from traditional philosophical approaches to reality, post-modern thinking has had to face the change in the academic and public world it is speaking about and talking with. While metaphysical approaches to reality from antiquity up to the 20th century contrived to maintain all reality…
Good health and well being require a clean and harmonious environment in which physical, physiological, social and aesthetic factors are all given their due importance. The environment should be regarded as a resource for improving living conditions and increasing well being. – World Health Organization Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care…
Introduction Eric Weislogel has recently argued that the increasing hyper-specialization of higher education is creating a unique challenge for the 21st century: “It’s not that specialization needs to be overcome, it’s that individuals, communities, and civilization in general will need to develop the complementary means by which to appropriate and take the measure of all…
Exploring being in the world, proclaiming life signified nothing, analyzing assumptions and developing syntheses were once the domain of philosophy and literature. Attempts were made to understand the whole of human existence. Gradually, grand theories about life became replaced by adoration of science. Whether or not there was a palace of wisdom seemed less relevant…
For nearly a decade, I regularly start the semester by asking students in my upper-level interdisciplinary general studies seminar what distinguishes the sciences, social sciences, and humanities from one another. Though they are intelligent soon-to-be-graduates of a fairly selective mid-sized private institution, Elon University in North Carolina, few can offer more than vague ideas of…