UNITY OF KNOWLEDGE (IN TRANSDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH FOR SUSTAINABILITY) – Vol. II - Management of Transdisciplinary Research: Management of Transdisciplinary Research

Abstract: Today, there is a social need for a comprehensive unity of knowledge that would provide orientation and ensure action in the context of the complex problems of modern civilization. Based on an intellectual need for unity of knowledge, different concepts of unity of knowledge have emerged in the course of the history of ideas. The intellectual need for unity can be directed at the world, science, action or the individual. It can involve the quest for the unity of the world based on a principle that is immanent in it, the unity of science as a theoretical, methodical or epistemological unity, the unity of action as a correlation of scientific, pragmatic and moral knowledge or, finally, unity as the educational task of the individual. The concepts associated with unity of knowledge can go in two directions. The first assumes that there is a unity existing in the world that can be perceived by man. It is thought of as an order of being, i.e. an ontological unity of the plurality of phenomena, that consist in their common nature. The other direction is based on the assumption that unity is a construction of a subject, based on its cognitive principles and structures. Thus it is not something that can be discovered as an existing objective order, and is instead subjective. Various concepts of unity of knowledge that correspond to these two directions can be found in the history of ideas. For example, some concepts refer to an essential metaphysical principle of things in the world or principles of reason as the basic components of a knowledge system. We also have materialistic reductionism and general systems theory as an overall concept for the structuring of problems in the natural and social sciences etc. In the face of the current threats to our life–support systems, the correlation of knowledge about states and processes (scientific knowledge), will (moral knowledge) and how to do things (pragmatic technical knowledge) is an issue of extreme urgency. As opposed to this, the quest for such a correlation did not arise in antiquity as there was no systematic relationship between knowledge and action. The linking of knowledge and action first arose with the development of the experimental natural sciences in the modern age, which expressly placed the sciences at the service of general human welfare. The need for unity of knowledge in transdisciplinary research for sustainability arises from the concern about the risks posed to life–support systems as a result of the manifold and poorly understood negative side–effects related with the increasing use of nature to sustain an ever–expanding population. Research for sustainable development relates to issues which do not arise primarily from the scientific disciplines themselves, but for which there is a social need for orientation and action strategies, that cannot be answered adequately by disciplinary experts. These issues do not fit in with the cognitive and social organization of the sciences in disciplines and subjects. In the context of societal problem–solving, unity of knowledge is a complex issue. The task here is to incorporate the correlations between a wide variety of phenomena in an integrative unit so that measures deemed suitable from a sustainable development perspective can be implemented to resolve the problems in question. The knowledge subject here is a team whose composition is based on the nature of the problem, whose members have different competencies and often include non–academic actors. The work of such teams requires suitable concepts and organizational forms of cooperation. The aim is to create a unity of causal, pragmatic and moral knowledge which also incorporates the knowledge of societal actors. In such a context, science is confronted with major uncertainties with regard to natural processes and the possible consequences of use practices. In terms of society, the aim is to find solutions in tune with the sustainable development model to conflicts concerning objectives that can arise between different action orientations and use practices. As a result, mutual dependencies arise between scientific research and economic and social processes.