Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable
(Camus – The Myth of Sisyphus)
PHD Research
Title: Ambicentric Thinking in a Noospheric, Interconnected Mind.
Subtitle: Applied thinking concepts taking into account the importance and relevance of one’s own mind, but also acknowledging that the same mind has a task in relation to the other. The creation of a theoretical framework and the application of that framework into a real life educational environment.
It is logical that our thinking – not only its result (i.e. the action) but also the a priori momentum in which our thoughts are conceived – influences others. Everyone has a certain responsibility when it comes to thinking. Nowadays it is very bon ton to say for example:”I don’t agree with this or that and you have to go along with it because I am a critical thinker and you follow the crowd””. In this often used sentence there are several problems, interpersonal but also from a global point of view. Pro and contra appear to be the only valid arguments in the discourse and polarisation trumps the nuance. The scope of this research project will result in a intracognitive thought roving framework, the adaptation of extracognitive input and the ability to connect this to and from a noospheric embodied mindset in order to create a collection of methods that enables to adequately and relevantly produce insights into how mankind can move forward into the future, sustainable, influencing the biosphere and this in relation to evolution of humanity and its worldviews. Humanity also seems to have forgotten that critical thinking is more than just the accumulation of facts and knowledge; it’s a way of approaching whatever is presently occupying your mind in such a way you come to the best possible conclusion. Critical thinking, in its widest sense, is focused on constantly upgrading one’s knowledge, engaging in independent self-learning.(Patel, D., 2018)
This study will also touch on the following subjects: human deception and self-delusion, desire, responsibility in thinking processes, truth / post truth, freedom in thinking and actions, educational systems fostering attitudes and dispositions of thinking, transconducting knowledge, social systems, improvisation and how and why these globalities can influence the individuation process of mankind.
This research proposal suggests an exploratory approach to define a new theory of ambicentric vs monocentric thinking, and this from a noospheric point of view. It tries to embed this theory into a new form of educational processes. This project can establish a reliable and easily accessible framework, a combination of both intra- and extracognitive input, transconnected to a noospheric information-processing and information-structuring system. This can result in a new thinking meta-framework that should include this new concept called ambicentric thinking. Training man’s consciousness in taking ‘the other’ into account can prevent interference. From the first organizing or decompositioning of a complex problem into more manageable parts, the relevance of the possible action later in the thinking process to the thinking of others can be part of the process itself. This should be a segment in the identification of the problem – the determination of why the problem exists and what the consequences would be if no action is taken to solve it. It requires epistemic inclusion in our thinking processes, which contrasts the more pragmatic way of thinking (i.e. bringing ourselves closer to the goal) and enables the agent to uncover information about ‘the other’ that is hidden at first sight. This ambicentric behaviour, as in a moderated anthropocentrism where human interests demand precedence and where people have qualified duties to the system (Marie, M. 2005), can result in an ambicentric thinking process that takes into account the importance and relevance of one’s own mind and also recognizes that the same mind has a task in relation to ‘the other’. This ambicentric framework will be applied to other thinking principles as well. For example, while critical thinking generally improves our thinking by analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing itself (i.e. self-directed, self-disciplined, and self-corrective) we can add some ambicentric thinking in the very process. The same is true for system thinking, where the use of certain events, patterns, and structures as parts of an overall system can be reconsidered in regards how the agent’s thinking process (and the resulting action) influences the thinking process and behaviour of others, not only from an action point of view but also from every step taken in that specific thinking process. This responsibility to and recognition of the relevance of other people’s minds will also contain an ethical framework. Adding these ambicentric thinking aspects into our known thinking processes will result in more balanced actions, for the benefit of others and the society at large. (G.Godderis 2020 – SoT book)
Certain questions will have to be asked during this research process. How far can we bend our thinking processes towards a more holistic way of understanding how we influence the world around us, not only as a result of our thinking, the action, but also from an early stage in our efforts to understand the phenomena, our own ontogenesis and our worldview? And this, not just for ourselves, but, from a responsibility point of view, actively and (sub)consciously, taking the other into consideration, in such a way it contributes to the wellbeing and self regulation of mankind.
When one communicates, there is a momentum of “agreeing”. Certain information is obtained and is channeled through our moral and/or critical arbitrator. This process of assessing the situation or phenomena is an initial part of our thinking process and therefore also an important part in cognitive exploration. In this momentum already lays the first seed of how the agent will respond, from a thinking point of view.
The study will also emphasize on the tendency of assuming that someone has to be “pro” or “contra” something. If an agent doesn’t agree, he/she automatically seems to be ‘contra’. Here we come up against an enormous nuance-problem. “pro” or “contra” are concepts without any meaning and are mainly semantic container concepts that can contain a whole spectrum of opinions. For example, an agent can be “very much in favour” of something or just “very much against”. Or he/she can decide not to formulate a black-and-white opinion and look for the nuance, because a black and white opinion creates polarization, also in thinking. And therein lies a responsibility as one’s opinion can steer the opinion of others. There clearly is a thin line between being a critical thinker and a non-thinking individual. Most self-declared critical thinkers appear to be non-thinkers, their mind neither holding on to, nor letting go of, thoughts, flaring theses that are inconsistent with personal ideas. Critical thinking is related to the word criteria: thinking as a concept meets high criteria of reasonableness. To learn how to think critically is to learn how to think things through, and to think them through well: accurately, clearly, sufficiently, reasonably. Critical thinking does involve making judgments. This is the connection the agent needs to find with his/her own inner thoughts. The study will also point out that there is a difference between thinking based on facts and thinking forced to conform to agenda, confirmation bias, or ideology.
The innovation and merits of the study will also emphasize on the concept that agents can influence their thinking in such a way that (after having grasped the obtained inpoint before they even expresses that thinking), on the one hand how this thinking localizes them as individuals within their environment, but also, on the other hand, how this thinking places them in a position with respect to their environment. That position and what that position implies can have an impact on how their environment deals with the available information. And, obviously, the available information (or lack of information) can be / will be subject to change, be it in person or another agent, in the form of some thought roving in the library of previously obtained knowledge or in the form of external variables from the omnipotent noosphere. The study will state that one’s thinking is biased by everything.
What is more, this research project will describe in detail the theoretical approach regarding the relevance of our inner individuation process towards our thinking and the need for responsibility in a possible a priori momentum, specifically with respect to this environment.
Men not only seek out information confirming our inner roving, they have an active negative response to external information, evidence, or facts which contradict them. But this is self-confirmation and therefore not always a critical point of view. Critical thinking and the willingness to challenge the combination of our preconceptions with our sense of how things in the world appear to human beings will result in an open mind that always challenges these self-confirming thought patterns. A certain profound world disclosure, referring to how things become intelligible and meaningfully relevant to our thinking process, by virtue of being part of an ontological world, will be an important section of this research project. The question “What arguments can we use to disclose the world in order to responsibly form an opinion or thought” will be a stepstone towards the more applied section of this study.(Nicolas Kompridis)
Despite being a subject of the system an agent is living in, he/she might be partly responsible for his/her own worldview, as their beliefs don’t simply happen to them but come from them, solidified as they’ve gathered selective evidence to validate those beliefs. It is important to adapt a framework that embraces the concept of being selectively uninformed but simultaneously voids seeking information to confirm their bias.
But there is more. Most current educational systems, even approaches to teaching and learning other than traditional publicly- or privately-run schools, are designed to maintain these very systems. As cognition is the process of acquiring knowledge through our thoughts, experiences, and senses, education should involve acquiring knowledge through experience, study, and a good narrative, amongst many others. Following the individual human being in its cognitive learning process is challenging for a system that has a tradition of conform, teacher-centered delivery of instruction to classes of students who are the receivers of information. Traditional education generally stresses basic educational practices and expects mastery of average academic learning in the core subjects of math, reading, writing, science and social studies. This approach is outdated as it demonstrates a very systematic environment in order to be conducive to the educational progress of students, rather than to the cognitive individuation progress.
In a second extensive part of the study, a mere applied approach will be taken. The main question “Can we apply the idea of this ambicentric thinking into a new noosphere based educational framework” will result in a proposal towards a real-life transdisciplinary educational environment infused with noospheric and ambicentric principles, transconducting knowledge. The outcome will be a proposal for an applicable framework for education, cognitive exploring and mentoring, which should be a natural, socially and culturally oriented system of obtaining, accumulation, transferring and updating of knowledge, skills and abilities of interaction in the system man – society – environment. Its content should integrate knowledge from various scientific fields: philosophy, ecology, psychology, biology, physiology, history and cultural studies. The methodology of such potential exploration will be based on the principles of systematization, harmonization, humanization, instrumentality, personal orientation, improvisation and above all advanced cognitive development, simplicity of knowledge, efficiency, transconduction of knowledge and potential intellectual security. (see ideas of Elmira R. Khairullina, Liliya Yu. Makhotkina, Anatoly P. Svetlakov, Ellina D. Emelina, Irina V. Vyatkina, Irina A. Lipatova, Andrey A. Pavlushin, Elena A. Sorokoumova about Noosphere Concept Implementation in Methodology of Modern Ecologically Oriented Higher Education ).
This noospheric based education infused with ambicentric principles also relates to the ideas of prominent thinkers of modern times, such as V. Vernadsky (Theory of biosphere and noosphere), K. N. Ventzel (cosmic pedagogics), N.N. Moiseev (ideas of co-evolution and ecological imperative) who are in the center of pedagogical science developing pedagogical systems adequate to a future state of civilization. This research study will suggest harmonious interaction of all spheres of personality, filling the process of education with moral and ethical norms, panhuman values, philosophy of existence, but also draws the link between global self-regulation and our ecological future, and this from an early age. This form of education/mentoring/co-exploring is intended for the formation of an intellectual niche of society, with a feeling of one’s own dignity, responsibility for possible choice and understanding of moral duty before oneself, other people and therefore mankind. The study will be conducted with this perspective taken into account, transposing education from an interdisciplinary point of view towards a transdisciplinary approach, not only integrating knowledge and methods from different disciplines, using a real synthesis of approaches but creating a unity of intellectual frameworks beyond the disciplinary perspectives.
An in-depth literature review and a survey of current scholarship in the fields of transdisciplinary thinking processes, education, exploring, cognition, worldview, noosphere and the different sub-subjects described herein above will be the solid base to situate this research project. Both published and unpublished material will be reviewed to identify all research variables and to define certain definitions. Journals, books, and other relevant international and national publications will be examined throughout the study.
The study will also be complimented with designed questionnaires and interviews addressing key stakeholders in the explorating community, like school administrators, teachers, educators, staff members, elected officials, school boards, artists, scientists etc. but also children (12y-18y) in order to select specific targets in which this study can be applied to. The relevant responses from the interviewed recipients will also be taken into account to discuss how this new framework can be applied to current educational processes (whether or not partially) on one hand, or, preferably, into a completely new educational environment on the other hand.
The expected outcome of the proposed study is (1) to contribute to the theoretical discourse in thinking concepts and the cognitive orientation / exploration of the individual in particular or the explorative community in general (2) transpose this contribution to an applied explorative framework and methodology and (3) apply this framework and methodology from theory to practice into a new format of education.