Unity of Knowledge

The objectives of the course is to provide a solid foundation for transdisciplinary enquiry into the wicked policy problems wherever they occur and seeking solutions that go beyond single discipline approaches, whether these be economics, political science, anthropology, hermeneutics, demography, ethnography etc. In addition, the examples and case studies will be drawn from global policy problems but with a particular focus on the global South, especially the BRIC countries.

The course will encourage student engagement, reading and discussion and reflection. It will seek to challenge conventional wisdoms in many areas, set the stage for breaking down disciplinary silos and seek path ways to solving complex concrete policy problems.

In natural science, the Newtonian worldview ruled from ca1700 to1920.  The underlying framework was perfect determinism based on excellent knowledge of nature’s initial values and dynamic laws. Hence, uncertainty or probabilistic understanding of events resulted from ignorance of underlying degrees of freedom. It is perfectly possible in principle to know every such underlying factor and then predict ad infinitum the dynamic evolution of the entire universe. The rise of thermodynamics provided a big jolt to such a deterministic framework. The theory of relativity, or Einstein’s revolution (special and general theories of relativity), changed our centuries-old prejudices about space and time and provided a new dynamic space-time picture; it was also based on locality and determinism principles. 

The foundational shift in natural science began with the rise of quantum mechanics from 1925 onwards. Striking features observed in the sub-atomic world were fundamental uncertainty, contextuality-complementarity, and non-locality (exemplified in Schrodinger’s cat metaphor). Since its inception, quantum mechanics has exhibited a remarkable duality, on the one hand, astonishing empirical success, but on the other hand, challenging problems of interpretations. Since 1925 there have been dozens of variations and alternative theories, all fascinating in their approach to reality. However, one can indeed observe that our worldview has completely transformed generally. Even in the 1930s, the series of conversations between two sages, Einstein and Tagore, revealed the tension between the older Greek objective non-contextual world view and the evolving ‘participatory realism’ view motivated by quantum revolution.

Historically, social sciences, particularly decision theory, have been motivated by physics. One can observe Adam Smith, the Guru of economics discipline (in the West at least), has been given a parallel status in social science to Newton in natural science. The General equilibrium framework of Neo-classical economics has been based on methodological inputs from mechanics at large. The rise of quantum-like modelling in decision theory and social science has pushed the horizon. Decision processes, both individually and in collectives, are riddled with contextuality and uncertainties, better described by quantum-like frameworks. Also, in international relations and political science literature, there is a rise of quantum-like awareness that social realities are entangled (metaphorically at least) and that there can be ontological emergences, which have produced a good interest in quantum philosophy.

 Against this backdrop, there is a need for a philosophical and interdisciplinary PhD level course, which would draw from different philosophical schools of science (Eastern and Western) and aim to provide pragmatic insights into real-world problem solutions. How might quantum-like thinking and complex adaptive systems address wicked policy problems?

PhD Students from various disciplinary backgrounds are interested in transdisciplinary approaches to academic research and problem-solving.

We aim to provide a first of its kind PhD level course) at the interface of the sciences- social and natural- drawing from various disciplines and integrating concepts and frameworks such as consilience, complex adaptive systems and quantum-like modelling. It should even help PhD scholars understand why their degrees are called a doctor of philosophy!

• Appreciation of the complexity of wicked policy problems and why it is necessary to use a transdisciplinary approach.
• Understanding the intellectual foundations of the main academic disciplines and their limitations in dealing with complex policy problems.
• Developing a deep understanding of transdisciplinary approaches to concrete problem-solving. 
• Ability to use a transdisciplinary approach to pursue advanced academic research and solve real-world problems.