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?
2nd 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
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
Quic kTi me™ et un
décompres seur T IFF (non compres sé)
sont requis pour visi onner cette image.
« Transdisciplinarity »  word
introduced in 1970 by Jean Piaget
DISCIPLINARY
TRANSDISCIPLINARY
EDUCATION (DE)
EDUCATION (TE)
IN VITRO
IN VIVO
One level of Reality
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
Oriented towards
possession
astonishment and sharing
Binary logic
Included middle logic
Exclusion of values
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:
Social systems:
• quantum level
• macrophysical
(classical) level
• cyber-space-time level
• individual level
• geographical and
historical community level
(family, nation)
• cyber-space-time
community level
• superstring 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
T
There exists a
third term
NR1
T
which is at the same time
A
NR2
A
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
• objectivity
• subjectivity
• complexity
• confusion
• language
• representation/
interpretation
• ignorance
• intelligence
• contemplation
• knowledge
• understanding
• being
Levels of
Contextualization
• 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 SUBJECT
TD OBJECT
HIDDEN
THIRD
Planetary
Cosmic
Economic
A3
T3
A2
T2
Environment A1
(natural and artificial:
Quantum
Macrophysical
Cyber-Space-Time
A3
non-A3
non-A2
X
A2
T3
T2
Political
non-A3
non-A2
Social
Historical
Individual
non-A1
Religions
Spiritualities
Cultures
A1
non-A1
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/