Abstract
The shift towards a Paradigm of Complexity has been expressed in the “Complexity Turn”. However, more attention has been given to the contents of thinking (e.g. complexity themes) than to the processes (how we think in and through Complexity, and how relatively complex is this complexity). We outline the foundations of a new Inter and Transdisciplinarity domain for research and practice targeting Complex Thinking. This domain will depend on the “Dissolution” of different disciplines, knowledges and modes of thinking and on a creative exploration of their interactions, propelled by key questions such as: how, when and which modes of thinking need to be coordinated to best address a particular nature of questions, in particular contexts and times? What is the nature of the relations between different modes of thinking and knowledges that most congruently matches the (evolving) complexity of the world in order to guide effective and positive actions? What kind of processes and strategies enact Complex Thinking towards emergence? How and which individual, social, cultural, biological, material, informational and technological processes constrain the human potential (individual and collective) for more complex modes of thinking? How to recognise and evaluate (relatively more) complex modes of thinking? We identify key questions, contributing disciplines and domains, discussing how investigating Complex Thinking requires a complex process which recursively increases its own complexity. We position this proposal within the Social Sciences, reaching and expanding beyond them to instigate new Heterodoxies inside, outside and in the interface of science(s) and modes of knowing.
Presenters
Ana Teixeira De MeloResearcher, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal Letícia Renault
Collaborator Investigator, Centre for Social Studies, Portugal
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2022 Special Focus—At the Crossroads of Paradigms: Considering Heterodoxy in the Social Sciences
KEYWORDS
Complex Thinking; Interdisciplinarity; Transdisciplinarity; Modes of Thinking; Social Sciences
