Proposals for Teacher Training in the Face of the Challenge …
551
Within the concept of complex thinking, the transdisciplinary approach is found
in the field of education. And within this, the view that educational processes and
teacher training should consider not only the epistemological and methodological
dimensions, but also include the ontological dimension. Such a position reflects the
understanding that to produce a new educational model more compatible with the
demands of the contemporary world, it is necessary to act on a deeper level related
to changing basic assumptions of ‘beings’ reference.
2 Complex Thinking and the Transdisciplinary Approach
as a Possible Path in the Field of Education
The difficulty of understanding the contexts and thinking the necessary interpellations
in complex contexts, ends up producing a state of blindness, becoming, according to
Hathaway and Boff (2012), a kind of alienation, unconsciousness and irresponsibility
that paralyzes, dulls the spirits, disconnecting us from each other and weakening the
bonds of life in the planetary dimension. In particular, Morin (2007) warns that
the more the problems become multidimensional, the more difficult it becomes to
understand and transcend them.
By referring to complex thinking (Morin 2001, 2007), the cultural trance (Russel
1992), the tensions that threaten planetary survival (Hathaway and Boff 2012) and
the concept of normose (Weil et al. 2013) these authors emphasize the importance,
in the contemporary world, of understanding the realities of the problems that afflict
humanity and life on the planet.
Reading a complex world is only possible from a complex worldview. For Wilber
(2003), simplistic and monocular solutions are not capable of bringing about transformation in the contemporary scenario, since the solutions need to be looked from
the prism of complexity of relations of nature and society.
Complex thinking allows communication between different knowledges serving
as bridges. Its purpose is at the same time to highlight the challenge of uncertainty and
to gather, contextualize and globalize the elements present in a given phenomenon.
Morin (2007, 2003) points to the mutilating pathology of contemporary thought
as the major responsible for the barbarities we see. For him, complex thinking makes
it possible to civilize knowledge, as it presents us with a type of thinking that allows
the ethics of reconnection and solidarity.
Morin (2001) presents a set of principles that education must strive to effectively
contribute to a new educational paradigm that is more compatible with the needs of the
contemporary world, namely: blindness of knowledge: error and illusion—refers
to the need to avoid, or at least to soften, through the examination of the nature of
knowledge, the error and illusion present in the process of understanding reality; the
principles of relevant knowledge—the importance of developing skills to organize
knowledge not in isolation, but establishing relationships between the whole and
the parts in order to contextualize the information so that they have more effective
551
Within the concept of complex thinking, the transdisciplinary approach is found
in the field of education. And within this, the view that educational processes and
teacher training should consider not only the epistemological and methodological
dimensions, but also include the ontological dimension. Such a position reflects the
understanding that to produce a new educational model more compatible with the
demands of the contemporary world, it is necessary to act on a deeper level related
to changing basic assumptions of ‘beings’ reference.
2 Complex Thinking and the Transdisciplinary Approach
as a Possible Path in the Field of Education
The difficulty of understanding the contexts and thinking the necessary interpellations
in complex contexts, ends up producing a state of blindness, becoming, according to
Hathaway and Boff (2012), a kind of alienation, unconsciousness and irresponsibility
that paralyzes, dulls the spirits, disconnecting us from each other and weakening the
bonds of life in the planetary dimension. In particular, Morin (2007) warns that
the more the problems become multidimensional, the more difficult it becomes to
understand and transcend them.
By referring to complex thinking (Morin 2001, 2007), the cultural trance (Russel
1992), the tensions that threaten planetary survival (Hathaway and Boff 2012) and
the concept of normose (Weil et al. 2013) these authors emphasize the importance,
in the contemporary world, of understanding the realities of the problems that afflict
humanity and life on the planet.
Reading a complex world is only possible from a complex worldview. For Wilber
(2003), simplistic and monocular solutions are not capable of bringing about transformation in the contemporary scenario, since the solutions need to be looked from
the prism of complexity of relations of nature and society.
Complex thinking allows communication between different knowledges serving
as bridges. Its purpose is at the same time to highlight the challenge of uncertainty and
to gather, contextualize and globalize the elements present in a given phenomenon.
Morin (2007, 2003) points to the mutilating pathology of contemporary thought
as the major responsible for the barbarities we see. For him, complex thinking makes
it possible to civilize knowledge, as it presents us with a type of thinking that allows
the ethics of reconnection and solidarity.
Morin (2001) presents a set of principles that education must strive to effectively
contribute to a new educational paradigm that is more compatible with the needs of the
contemporary world, namely: blindness of knowledge: error and illusion—refers
to the need to avoid, or at least to soften, through the examination of the nature of
knowledge, the error and illusion present in the process of understanding reality; the
principles of relevant knowledge—the importance of developing skills to organize
knowledge not in isolation, but establishing relationships between the whole and
the parts in order to contextualize the information so that they have more effective