FUTURE EDUCATION AND A NEW EPISTEMOLOGY

Abstract

It has become increasingly clear that our current cultural crisis - manifested in material forms such as pollution, depletion of natural resources and ecological imbalance - is rooted not only in our technological short-sightedness but more basically in our philosophy, attitudes and cultural orientation. These are becoming obsolete. It was almost 2,500 years ago that Greek philosophers Anaximandros, Xenophanes, Anaxagoras and Sophists laid the basis of the Western logic which Plato and Aristotle constructed. This logic is basically unidirectional, uniformistic, hierarchical and classificational; it fosters competition and quantitative thinking. The realisation of the inadequacy of this logic has led an increasing number of people in our society to search for and experiment with new kinds of philosophies and logics. One distinctive pattern of logic has already emerged and many more will undoubtedly be forthcoming.