Re: What discipline is this?

Francis Heylighen (fheyligh@VUB.AC.BE)
Wed, 21 Jan 1998 13:44:43 +0100


John Jay Kineman:
>If one were to construct the ideal Ph.D. program around the concepts
>discussed on PCP, what Dept./discipline/inter-discipline would that be in?
>Is it Systems Science, Evolution, Psychology, Philosophy, Cybernetics,
>Semiotics, Information Science, Epistemology, .... or some combination of
>these, or all of these? Clearly it seems to be a combination, but then what
>formal Ph.D. programs are there that capture the ideal combination (your
>opinion)? Is there a single place that is recognized as the "center of the
>universe" in this multi-field? Are there several? I am particularly
>interested in institutions in the USA, although I would like to know about
>the best regardless of location.

As you guessed, the ideal program would be a combination of all of those,
and does not exist as such. However, if you were to look for those programs
that offer the closest approximation, I would definitely first look in the
cybernetics/systems science (CYBSYS) domain ( see
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/CYBSYSTH.html). The difference between CYBSYS and
the others is that CYBSYS is intrinsically transdisciplinary, and therefore
much more open to the ideas of the others, than that any of the others
would be to CYBSYS or to further disciplines. Thus, the typical CYBSYS
researcher would be much more interested in, say, psychology or evolution,
than the typical pyschologist or evolutionary biologist would be in any
domain that is not closely related to their own.

Unfortunately, the CYBSYS domain is poorly represented in academic
institutions and there are few places where you can get a degree in it. As
Luis pointed out, the department in Binghamton is probably still the best
one (at least two active PCP participants, Luis and Cliff Joslyn, have
gotten a PhD there), though there are a few elsewhere.

Making a list of all CYBSYS programs in the world is something which the
CYBSYS community regularly attempts to do, but never really seems to
manage. The latest attempts I am aware of are being done by Stuart Umpleby
and by Don McNeil. I can get you their email addresses if you are
interested. I would love to publish a list of CYBSYS education programs on
PCP web, but don't have the time to produce one myself. Anyway, the list of
links on CYBSYS (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/CYBSYSLI.html) mentions several
(degree granting ?) departments.

I should also mention my own department in Brussels, the Center Leo Apostel
(http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/CLEA/), which is very close in spirit to PCP,
though not officially specialised in CYBSYS. The emphasis is on
transdisciplinarity and the construction of integrated world views. We
don't offer courses (just regular seminars), but it is possible to get a
PhD with us. (in the Belgian system, following courses is not really
required for a PhD; the emphasis is wholly on the original research and the
thesis).

Finally, there is one other domain that touches PCP's concerns in several
respects: evolutionary epistemology. I don't know of any PhD programs in
that domain, but one central place for it is the Konrad Lorenz Institute
for Evolution and Cognition Research in Austria
(http://klio.kla.univie.ac.at/index.html). Their approach is also inspired
by systems theory.

>I anticipate one type of answer being that nothing captures the full
>diversity, and everyone comes at it from related interests. But then,
>SHOULD there or COULD there be a central core?

I think there could be such a core. I am not sure it SHOULD, but it would
certainly be nice if it would be available.

________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Francis Heylighen, Systems Researcher fheyligh@vub.ac.be
CLEA, Free University of Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
Tel +32-2-6442677; Fax +32-2-6440744; http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html