TRANSDISCIPLINARITY

Building bridges
between fields of knowledge,
facts, people, cultures

San José, Costa Rica

February 23, 2010

Basarab NICOLESCU
University of Paris 6, France
and
University Babes-Bolyai
Cluj, Romania
INTRODUCTION –PROBLEMS OF
TERMINOLOGY

!! Words « reduction » and « reductionism –

extremely ambiguous
!! Scientific reduction: A to B, B to C, C to
D, etc.
!! Scientific reductionism and philosophical
reductionism
!! Non-reductionism: holism and
emergentism
!! Ideology of reductionism is distinct from
the scientific reductionism
 GENERAL CONTEXT of our world:
economical globalization but
accelerated fragmentation of knowledge

-! there is no ONE science :

> 8000 scientificdisciplines

-! there is no ONE religion, ONE

culture, ONE tongue
> 10000 religions and religious
movements
> 6000 tongues

HOW CAN WE DREAM OF PEACE?

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
« Transdisciplinarity » ! word introduced in 1970 by
Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980)
 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
 LEVELS OF REALITY

Google: 1,400,000 entries!

Levels:
of organization, of integration, of
language, of representation, of
interpretation, of complexity, of
knowledge, of being
 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
A UNIFIED THEORY OF LEVELS
OF REALITY -
THE TRANSDISCIPLINARY
APPROACH
 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

The key concept of TD – level of

Reality
 LEVEL OF REALITY

Set of systems invariant under

certain general laws

There is discontinuity between levels

Every level of Reality ! associated

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

Restores the
continuity
between levels
Edmund Husserl (1859 - 1938)

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

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
 REALITY

- levels of Reality of the Object

- levels of Reality of the Subject
- the Hidden third

•! organization •! objectivity
•! structuring LEVELS
•! subjectivity
•! integration •! complexity

•! confusion •! knowledge
•! language •! understanding
•! representation/
•! being
interpretation
•! materiality
•! ignorance
•! spirituality
•! intelligence
•! non-duality
•! contemplation
The combined action of the
ontological, logical and
epistemological axioms engender
VALUES
 THE LOGICAL AXIOM

The passage from one level of Reality

to another is insured by the
logic of the included middle
Stéphane Lupasco
(1900-1988)
 Included middle

There exists a T
third term
NR1

T NR2

which is at the same time

A Non-A
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
 The complexity axiom is a modern
form of the old principle of
UNIVERSAL INTERDEPENDENCE

Edgar Morin
(b. 1921)
 TD METHODOLOGY AND
FUSION OF HORIZONS!
What is a dialogue?
What is a team?
All of us we have our prejudices,
our representations – our horizon

The true dialogue – when we

suspend (temporary) our
prejudices

Something new can emerge only Hans-Georg Gadamer

(1900 - 2002)!
then – crossing of different levels of
Reality – VISION – Hidden Third
DIALOGUE BETWEEN CULTURES
AND BETWEEN SPIRITUALITIES
-!Technoscience: zone of the
Object: necessity of conversion
towards values
-!Cultures and spiritualities: cross
all the 3 terms {Object, Subject,
Hidden Third}
 HOMO RELIGIOSUS and "
HOMO ECONOMICUS!
" ! Homo religiosus – meaning of life, the
sacred, the unseen, higher levels of
Reality!
" ! Homo economicus – believes in what is
seen,observed, measured; profane;
just one level of reality; irrational force
of technoscience!
 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-SEPARABILTY!
SUBJECT / 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!
" ! WHAT IS REALITY?!
" ! Peirce: The world lives, moves and has in
itself a logic of events, which corresponds
to our reason.!

Charles Sanders Peirce

(1839-1914)
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 the
cosmic system, in all its dimensions, from
the quantum particle till the most distant
galaxy, going through the human being.!
" ! EVERY LEVEL OF REALITY SUSTAINS
EVERY OTHER LEVEL OF REALITY!
STANDARD VIEW
 MISPLACED BELIEFS!

" ! Reductionism!
" ! Binary logic!
" ! Disciplinary (mono- , multi- and
interdisciplinary) solutions only!
 MISSING DIMENSIONS OF SF
and SD!

" ! Individual level of Reality!

" ! Cosmic level of Reality!
" ! Spiritual level of Reality!
 REALITY IS PLASTIC!

" ! We are part of the ordered

movement of Reality!
" ! Our freedom: enter or perturb the
movement (will of power and
domination)!
" ! Our responsibility – build Sustainable
Futures in agreement with the overall
movement of Reality!
Lima de Freitas (1927 – 1998)
 CONCLUSION!

" ! TD is an accelerator
of creativity!

THE HUMAN
-CENTERED!
GOVERNANCE!
BIBLIOGRAPHY!
Basarab Nicolescu, La
transdisciplinariedad –
Manifiesto, Universidad
Mundo Real,
Hermosillo, Sonora,
Mexico, 2009
ISBN
978-607-7715-00-9