TRANSDISCIPLINARITY: REACHING BEYOND DISCIPLINES TO FIND CONNECTIONS

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Madni, Azad M.

Affiliations: Intelligent Systems Technology Inc., California, USA

Abstract: We live in an era in which the world is becoming increasingly more connected or, as Tom Friedman puts it, "flat." The inevitable consequence of this interconnectedness trend is that problems are becoming much too complex to successfully solve by applying methods from within a single discipline. This recognition is most evident in the growing trend toward multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration among traditionally independent disciplines. As such collaboration intensifies, existing disciplines are being enriched and occasionally new disciplines are beginning to emerge. At the same time, the knowledge gaps among the disciplines are beginning to surface. What appears to be lacking is a new way of thinking that strives to harmonize traditional disciplines by reaching beyond their traditional boundaries to fill the knowledge gaps not addressed by them. Transdisciplinary thinking promises to reach beyond disciplinary boundaries to identify and overcome knowledge voids and incompatibilities in the quest for knowledge unification. Achieving these objectives is key to fostering new relationships among traditionally independent disciplines and, in so doing, begin to address problems of national and global significance. This paper discusses the aims of transdisciplinarity, the road to transdisciplinarity, successes resulting from transdisciplinary thinking, and recommendations for a research and education agenda embracing trandsdisciplinary thinking.

Keywords: intradisciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, biomimicry

Journal: Journal of Integrated Design & Process Science, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1-11, 2007