Systems and Information: A Transdisciplinary Study

Abstract

This paper summarizes some current views of transdisciplinarity, in particular the theory and methodology of transdisciplinarity in the approach of Basarab Nicolescu. His conception of the Logic of Transdisciplinarity suggests that explicit reference should be made to it in transdisciplinary studies. I first develop this idea in a critique of current systems science and thinking. Nicolescu has stated that transdisciplinarity is not a paradigm. However, transdisciplinary methodology may nevertheless be an essential part of an emerging informational paradigm. In this paper, I claim that in fact information cannot be properly understood without using what is effectively a transdisciplinary methodology. I describe the philosophy of information of Wu Kun and his concept of informational thinking and contrast it with standard systems thinking. In Wu’s approach, the philosophy and ethics of information are eminently transdisciplinary. I suggest that transdisciplinary practice and informational thinking are essential ways of furthering the common good.