Transdisciplinarity goes beyond the dualism of opposing binary pairs which have marked the history of ideas for millenia. Because transdisciplinarity is radical, in the sense that it goes to the roots of knowledge, and questions our ways of thinking and our construction and organization of knowlede, it requires a discipline of self-inquiry that integrates the knower ain the process of knowing. The vision goes beyond cognicentrism and the focus on analytic intelligence to propose a new type of intelligenc. (Tomado del editor).

What kind of science do we need today and tomorrow? In a game that knows no boundaries, a game that contaminates science, democracy and the market economy, how can we distinguish true needs from simple of fashion? How can we distinguish between necessity and fancy? whims How can we differentiate conviction from opinion? What is the meaning of this all? Where is the civilizing project? Where is the universal outlook of the minds that might be capable of counteracting the global reach of the market? Where is the common ground that links each of us to the other? We need the kind of science that can live up to this need for univer sality, the kind of science that can answer these questions. We need a new kind of knowledge, a new awareness that can bring about the creative destruction of certainties. Old ideas, dogmas, and out-dated paradigms must be destroyed in order to build new knowledge of a type that is more socially robust, more scientifically reliable, stable and above all better able to express our needs, values and dreams. What is more, this new kind of knowledge, which will be challenged in turn by ideas yet to come, will prove its true worth by demonstrating its capacity to dialogue with these ideas and grow with them.

This volume explores interactions between academia and different societal stakeholders with a focus on sustainability. It examines the significance and potential of transdisciplinary collaboration as a tool for sustainability and the SDGs. Traditionally, academia has focused on research and education. More recently, however, the challenges of sustainable development and achieving the SDGs have required the co-production of knowledge between academic and non-academic actors. Compromising theory, methods and case studies from a broad span of transdisciplinary collaboration, Transdisciplinarity For Sustainability: Aligning Diverse Practices is written by specialists from various academic disciplines and represents an important step forward in systematising knowledge and understanding of transdisciplinary collaboration. They are designed to provide a roadmap for further research in the field and facilitate pursuing and realizing the SDGs. The book will appeal to researchers and postgraduate students in a variety of disciplines such as architecture, design, economics, social sciences, engineering and sustainability studies. It will also be of significant value to professionals who are engaged in transdisciplinary collaboration that supports sustainable development.

The book is organized around 4 sections. The first deals with the creativity and its neural basis (responsible editor Emmanuelle Volle). The second section concerns the neurophysiology of aesthetics (responsible editor Zoï Kapoula). It covers a large spectrum of different experimental approaches going from architecture, to process of architectural creation and issues of architectural impact on the gesture of the observer. Neurophysiological aspects such as space navigation, gesture, body posture control are involved in the experiments described as well as questions about terminology and valid methodology. The next chapter contains studies on music, mathematics and brain (responsible editor Moreno Andreatta). The final section deals with evolutionary aesthetics (responsible editor Julien Renoult). Chapter "Composing Music from Neuronal Activity: The Spikiss Project" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

"Institutionalizing Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity fills a gap in the current literature by systematizing and comparing a wide international scope of case studies illustrating varied ways of institutionalizing theory and practice. This collection comprises three parts. After an introduction of overall themes, Part I presents case studies on institutionalizing. Part II focuses on transdisciplinary examples, while Part III includes cross-cutting themes, such as funding, evaluation, and intersections between epistemic cultures. With expert contributions from authors representing projects and programs in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, Russia and South Caucuses, Latin and North America, this book brings together comparative perspectives on theory and practice, while also describing strategies and models of change. Each chapter identifies dimensions inherent in fostering effective and sustainable practices. Together they advance both analysis and action-related challenges. The proposed conceptual framework that emerges supports innovative practices that are alternatives to dominant academic cultures and approaches in pertinent disciplines, fields, professionals, and members of government, industry, and communities. Applying a comparative perspective throughout, the contributors reflect on aspects of institutionalizing interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity as well as insights applicable to further contexts. This innovative volume will be of great interest to students, scholars, practitioners, and members of organizations promoting and facilitating interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research"--

Transdisciplinarity provides an essential context for understanding some of the most important, complex, and difficult issues we face, whether in environmental protection, maintaining our health care systems, drafting new laws, formulating public policy, accommodating religious and cultural pluralism, or dealing humanely and respectfully with an ageing population. It responds to the need to cross boundaries in order to embrace the ideas of all disciplines that may be relevant to these questions. Successful transdisciplinary endeavours depend on developing methodologies that can be used to re-integrate knowledge. Contributors include Upendra Baxi (University of Warwick), Solomon Benatar (University of Cape Town), Ellis Cowling (North Carolina State University, William S. Fyfe (University of Western Ontario), Norbert Gilmore (McGill University), Julie Thompso Klein (Wayne State University), Sheldon Krimsky (Tufts University), Brian Lapping (documentary filmmaker), John Last (emeritus, University of Ottawa), Roderick MacDonald (McGill University), Desmond Manderson (Macquarie University), Eleonora Barbieri Masini (Gregorian University), Gavan J. McDonell (University of New South Wales), Anthony J. McMichael (University of London), Robert Y. McMurtry (Medical Research Council of Canada), Nicole Morgan (author, France), William H. Newell (Miami University), David J, Rapport, Andrew Sage (emeritus, George Mason University), Margaret A. Somerville, and Katherine Young (McGill University).

Theoretical physicist Nicolescu (CNRS and U. of Paris, France) employs a view of the universe found in quantum physics to build his argument as to how basic spiritual questions may be answered and the problems of humanity, such as greed and the dichotomy between rich and poor, can be overcome. His method is called transdisciplinarity because it requires a way of thinking that rises above and beyond the methods of individual disciplines, seeing multiple levels of meaning rather than simple dichotomies. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR