Critical Approaches to Culture + Communications + Hypermedia
We, the undersigned, further emphasise that:
(i) the fundamental principles of transdisciplinarity encompass both the inner and the outer development of the individual, such as:
- competence in the field of the true vocation of the individual,
- ethics: commitment, responsibility and accountability,
- and spirituality in the open sense, -
as laid out in the Charter of Transdisciplinarity adopted at the First World Congress of Transdisciplinarity in Arrabida, Portugal, November 2 - 7,
1994; and
(ii) fundamental statements on transdisciplinary education are:
- to open education towards an integral education of the human being which transmits the quest for meaning;
- to make the University evolve towards a study of the Universal in the context of an unprecedented acceleration of fragmentary knowledge;
- to revalue the role of deeply rooted intuition, of the imaginary, of sensitivity, and of the body in the transmission of knowledge, -
as stated in the conclusion of the International Congress "What University for Tomorrow ? Towards a Transdisciplinary Evolution of the University" in Locarno in 1997,
The following Statement on A BROADER VIEW OF TRANSDISCIPLINARITY is made as an essential enhancement of the conclusions of the Conference:
1. We believe that the transdisciplinary vision offers an active, open concept of nature and the human being, which, while not exhaustive, can be used more effectively to help achieve the goal of human survival and justice than can any definition or reduction to a formal structure. This vision transcends the individual fields of the exact sciences, the humanities and social sciences and encourages them to become reconciled with one another and with art, literature, poetry and spiritual experience and to validate their respective insights.
2. Transdisciplinary epistemology, attitude and practice imply the recognition of the methodological utility of the concepts of the three pillars of transdisciplinarity -- complexity, the logic of the included middle, and levels of Reality -- all of which emerge from the data of modern (quantum physics) science, from the dialogue with other cultures and from the cognitive corpus of all the great knowledge traditions of the present and of the past. Therefore, transdisciplinary epistemology, attitude and practice require a spirit of rigour, openness and tolerance of other points of view, and a commitment to transdisciplinary resolution of differences. To solve problems efficiently, it is necessary to adopt transdisciplinary understanding of complexity and its descriptions as in systems theory and 2nd order cybernetics.
3. It is this methodology and epistemology: complexity, the logic of the included middle, and the levels of Reality, explored by different methods, that is necessary for the understanding of the world and of the human being. Such a methodology is essential to help insure real changes in society including new social, economic and organizational forms and make possible critical advances in problem solving.
4. Transdisciplinarity, in the above sense, can permit the elaboration of Human Values, basing the deontology of Transdisciplinarity on the inalienable rights and values of the inner person. To make decisions pointing society to sustainability and based on solutions implied by such transdisciplinary methodology, the decision makers should assume new responsibilities, committing themselves to this deontology of transdisciplinarity.
5. The Conference called for a transdisciplinary approach to resolving the contradictory truths of the triad Democracy - Science - Market Economy, at the level of social reality. However, at a higher intellectual level of reality, the triad Metaphysics - Epistemology - Poetry are co-participants in the dynamic development of new knowledge of space, time, causality, truth and contradiction, and provide needed insights into the relation between the real and the imaginary. A complete transdisciplinary approach to problem solving therefore requires integration of the insights of both levels.
6. Artistic creation and experience is an instance of transdisciplinary integration. It relies on a broad range of capacities of the human mind, engaging sensory, cognitive, emotional and logical functions while expressively embodying and socially enacting a rich variety of mental constructs in concrete gestalt. The artistic patterns of interpretation and its modes of communicative interplay within a fabric of social values provides a wealth of tacit knowledge as a source of creative enrichment and innovation in science allowing for transgression in new forms of science and art.
7. The UNESCO report of the "Commission internationale sur l'éducation pour le vingt et unième siècle" strongly emphasized four pillars of a new kind of education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together with, and learning to be. We suggest to add: learning to anticipate – as we cannot anymore afford to learn by destruction, and learning to participate through involvement - as solutions to problems can not be found in "ivory towers of learning" without involving the critical mass of the society.
8. Sustainability of each human being and of development of their society, is a central concern of the signatories of this Statement. In our view, the principles, logic and methodology of Transdisciplinarity provide a framework for understanding the ontological and ethical basis of Sustainability, in:
- an understanding of it as part of the dynamics of nature;
- a vision of the complex interdependence of individuals, institutions and communities implying their increased commitment to sustainable mutual benefit to the individual and society;
- a model for a humane form of globalisation, going beyond a society of knowledge for profit to one which reveals and uses knowledge in a context of mutual respect, trust and responsibility for action.
We, the undersigned, call upon all persons of good will to consider this Statement in the context of their own concept of Transdisciplinarity and to engage in an on-going dialogue on both of them.
Joseph E. Brenner, Ph.D., Les Diablerets, Switzerland;
Paulius Kulikauskas, Byfornyelse Danmark, Denmark and Lithuania;
Maria F. de Mello, Researcher at CETRANS (Transdisciplinary Educational Center) - Escola do Futuro, University of São Paulo, Brazil;
K.V. Raju, from Anand, India;
Américo Sommerman, publisher, coordinator of CETRANS - Escola do Futuro - University of São Paulo, Brazil;
Dr. Nils-Göran Sundin, docent, Collegium Europaeum, Stockholm, Sweden
E-mail Ron Burnett President, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design
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