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Notes made by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule on January 15, 2022 at 7.30pm
- We are studying the trans-disciplinary approach from Europe and America. The Russians also have their transdisciplinary project but it is not well translated into English.
- For 3 centuries science has been dominated by the Newtonian and thermodynamic concepts that are analytic and reductionist. This is being replaced by the holistic concept that is multidisciplinary.
- The Newtonian revolution produced 3 universal laws. It is reductionist reducing the universe to basic units and using them to build the universe. The Newtonian system consists of matter and energy. The Newtonian world was deterministic ie can predict anything from mathematical equations. The Newtonian world is simplistic.
- Specialization as a result of industrialization led to fragmentation of knowledge. This resulted into reduction and disjunction. Disciplines and sub-disciplines arose. This division is a way of organizing knowledge but created blind spots to small things that cannot be seen through the windows of disciplines and sub disciplines. Disciplinary knowledge is characterized by objectivity, certainty, universality, one way of looking at things, either/or thinking rejecting ambiguity or paradox.
- Trans disciplinary knowledge is not additive use of knowledge to solve a problem. It is an attitude with 5 dimensions: inquiry based, integrating, meta-paradigmatic and not intra-paradigmatic, balances rigor with imagination / creativity, it is complex systems thinking.
- Transdisciplinary inquiry integrates the inquirer in the process. Thus inquiry becomes a chance for self-inquiry and self-development.
- Trans disciplinarity has practical implications in education by using a systems approach that covers more variables to increase creativity. Trans disciplinary thought is the opposite of disciplinary thought because of its holism.
- Comment by Prof Hamza: this is a good presentation that has crystallized trans disciplinarity. It will lead to principles of Islamic trans-disciplinarity.
- Question by Dr Nimulola: where does trans disciplinarity fit in the 3 paradigms of research: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed. Prof Biraima answered that trans-disciplinarity covers all three paradigms.
- Prof Omar shared the Bayesian approach in medical decision making as opposed to the classical approach that is Newtonian.