The transdisciplinary evolution of learning

Abstract

A number of symptoms conceal the general cause of the disorientation of education in today's world: the loss of meaning and the universal hunger for meaning. A viable education can only be an integral education of the human being. Transdisciplinary education has its origins in the inexhaustible richness of the scientific spirit, which is based on questioning, as well as on the rejection of all a priori answers and certitude contradictory to the facts. At the same time, it revalues the role of deeply rooted intuition, of imagination, of sensitivity, and of the body in the transmission of knowledge. Only in this way can society of the twenty-first century reconcile effectiveness and affectivity. Universal sharing of knowledge - a necessity of our world - cannot take place without the emergence of a new tolerance founded on the transdisciplinary attitude, one which implies putting into practice transcultural, transreligious, transpolitical and transnational visions. Concrete proposals will be also discussed: time for transdisciplinarity (devoting approximately 10% of the teaching time to transdisciplinarity), creation of ateliers for transdisciplinary reasearch in each educational institution (composed of researchers from all disciplines), transdisciplinary forums (directed towards epistemology, philosohy of nature and philosophy of history), and pilot transdisciplinary experiences in cyberspace.