Transformative Transdisciplinarity: An Introduction to Community-Based Philosophy

In the face of planetary crises -- from biodiversity loss to climate change to food security -- transdisciplinary methods promise effective and just responses through equal collaborations. However, transdisciplinarity also creates complex challenges by bringing together different actors with different frameworks, like scientists, Indigenous and local communities, and policy makers. Successful collaboration among such actors requires navigating different forms of knowledge, worldviews, values, and positions of power.

In Transformative Transdisciplinarity, David Ludwig and Charbel N. El-Hani synthesize insights from the philosophy of science and empirical action research to address these challenges through a framework of partial overlaps. On the one hand, the framework highlights the overlapping concerns and perspectives of actors that provide common ground for collaboration and mutual understanding. On the other hand, it emphasizes partialities that require navigating differences and tensions between actors. This book addresses the fundamental epistemological, ontological, and political questions of transdisciplinarity through this framework of partial overlaps, aiming for a transformative vision of collaborative science in the face of planetary crises.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

David Ludwig is Associate Professor in the ＂Knowledge Technology and Innovation＂ (KTI) Group of Wageningen University, Netherlands, where he is also the Principal Investigator of the ＂Global Epistemologies and Ontologies＂ (GEOS) project.

Charbel N. El-Hani is Full Professor at the Institute of Biology of the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil, where he is also the Coordinator of the National Institute of Science & Technology in Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Studies in Ecology and Evolution (INCT IN-TREE) and the History, Philosophy, and Biology Teaching Lab (LEFHBio).