Full Description
What kind of science do we need today and tomorrow? In a game that knows no boundaries, a game that contaminates science, democracy and the market economy, how can we distinguish true needs from simple of fashion? How can we distinguish between necessity and fancy? whims How can we differentiate conviction from opinion? What is the meaning of this all? Where is the civilizing project? Where is the universal outlook of the minds that might be capable of counteracting the global reach of the market? Where is the common ground that links each of us to the other? We need the kind of science that can live up to this need for univer sality, the kind of science that can answer these questions. We need a new kind of knowledge, a new awareness that can bring about the creative destruction of certainties. Old ideas, dogmas, and out-dated paradigms must be destroyed in order to build new knowledge of a type that is more socially robust, more scientifically reliable, stable and above all better able to express our needs, values and dreams. What is more, this new kind of knowledge, which will be challenged in turn by ideas yet to come, will prove its true worth by demonstrating its capacity to dialogue with these ideas and grow with them.
Contents
1 Summary and Synthesis.- 1.1 Summary.- 1.2 Synthesis.- 2 Introduction.- 2.1 Why a Globalized World Needs Transdisciplinarity.- 2.2 The Discourse of Transdisciplinarity: An Expanding Global Field.- 3 Keynote Addresses.- 3.1 What Kind of Science Does our World Need Today and Tomorrow? A New Contract between Science and Society.- 3.2 From Microscope to Kaleidoscope: Merging Fields of Vision.- 3.3 The Potntial of Transdisciplinarity.- 3.4 The Responsibility of Science and Scientists.- 3.5 Mobilizing the Intellectual Capital of Universities.- 4 Interactive Sessions.- 4.1 The Dialogue Sessions.- 4.2 The Mutual Learning Sessions.- 4.3 The Idea Market.- 5 The Swiss Transdisciplinarity Award.- 5.1 Introduction: Goals and Criteria of the Award.- 5.2 Final Awards.- 5.3 Finalists.- 6 Outcomes.- 6.1 Reflections on the Interactive Sessions: From Scepticism to Good Practices.- 6.2 Learning about Transdisciplinarity: Where Are We? Where Have We Been? Where Should We Go?.- 6.3 Impacts on Science Management and Science Policy.- 7 Conclusion.- Mainstreaming Transdisciplinarity: A Resarch-Political Campaign.- Appendices.- Appendix A.- Conference Organizers: SPPE, ETHZ/UNS, ABB, Science et Cité, econcept AG and Marketing Service Ltd..- Honorary Board, Conference Board, and Organizing Committee.- Appendix B.- References.- Appendix C.- List of Participants.- Appendix D.- List of Contributors.- Abbreviations and Acronyms.
