Transdisciplinarity in Progress –
Indexicality as the basis of Transdisciplinarity

Date: October 10^th to 12^th, 2005
Place: Graz, Austria

Indexicality is the basic relational structure that connects the different contexts of reality in time, in place, in cause and in person. Ontologically the different contexts of reality are the physical, the mental, the symbolic and the institutional one, which cannot become reduced to each other. The relational indexical instants generate the dynamic indexical structure over time. Human beings might instantiate their existentialistic creative self, self-awareness and self-reflexivity. The semantic content of the symbolic reality – no matter what kind of language is used: formal or natural languages, mathematics, music, forms and lines – is its corresponding outer-symbolic physical, mental or institutional reality. Otherwise there is not any content at all, language is empty. This is the approach to the complex reality from philosophy of mind and philosophy of language.

The approach to the complex reality from physics as formulated by the quantum physicist Basarab Nicolescu starts with the distinction between levels of reality, namely the quantum structure of reality and the macrophysical structure. The most important features are discontinuity within each level of reality and the break down of laws between the different levels of reality. This has consequences for the theory of sciences and logic.

From that the following questions arise for the theory of sciences and derived from that for the scientific practice:

For the theory of sciences the questions arise:
(1) How are these insights from philosophy of mind and philosophy of language and from the physicalist approach to the complex reality to understand?
(2) What is the relevance of these insights from philosophy of mind and philosophy of language and from the physicalist approach to the complex reality for the theory of sciences: natural sciences, human and social sciences?

For the practice of sciences the questions arise:
(1) What importance have these insights from philosophy of mind and philosophy of language and from the physicalist approach to the complex reality for the organisation of scientific institutions, such as universities?
(2) Can scientific institutions give up “democracy”, for instance, as it happened in Austria by the Law of University 2002, without damaging sciences, societies and the individual human being?

Registration is recommended! Limited number of participants.

Speakers
Programme
Registration form download (word document 19,5 KB)
Contact