Ph. D. Popescu Angel Iulian ICEA_FAA_2009 Structural Interaction Ism

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The International Conference on Economics and Administration, Faculty of

Administration and Business, University of Bucharest, Romania

ICEA FAA Bucharest, 14-15th November 2009

STRUCTURAL INTERACTIONISM.

SOCIAL COST EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH A NEW M ETHODOLOGICAL

APPROACH

By Ph.D. Popescu Angel Iulian

Faculty of Sociology and Social Work,

University of Bucharest

email address: [email protected]

Abstract

The concept of structural interactionism

which defines the complex living network

in which man is involved transplanted intosocial organization reveals significant

implications for the administering of social

costs. The deep consequences of returning

to what we really are and renouncing to

what we artificially seem to be can be an

effective solution in overpassing a

teleological crisis of society.

Key words:

Sociology, Interdisciplinarity,

Transdisciplinarity, Teleology, Complex

Research.

1. Introduction

(1) Teleology through a multi-

dimensional sociology. Usually we say

about sociology (1) either that it is a

science that preoccupies itself with the

study of the human rapports dynamics,

(2) either that it has a hybride nature

which will never be able to aspire to the

social science status1 or to the coherent

knowledge body2. Thus sociology seems to

be placed between two dilemmas: (1) oneof being kept between the practical

impossibility of deepening a (human and

existential) reality3 which goes beyond any

rational capacity of understanding; (2)

other one of being suspended between

what theoretically appears to be the social

reality and what it really is practically4. If

the individual human being5 is the

interference6 space of many segments of

reality, why sociology would not be in the

same situation as long as it works with the

aggregates7

of the human being8

involved in multi-level equations? Freed

from the ideological aspects, sociology

naturally tends to build itself as an unified

science, oriented toward a deep social

knowledge, elaborating thus a judicious

discourse strongly anchored in reality andprofoundly valuing the significances

revealed through inter and trans-

disciplinary correlations9.

(2) A theory of the human living

system. To reach its central goal that of

offering solutions to the humanity

development, of engineering them based

on their essential features10, Sociology had

to simultaneously work, using its own

powers, to the social knowledge and wait

for the development of all the other

research domains in the purpose of

capitalizing them in an integrative11 and

functional12 perspective. Those who

exercised their criticism on sociology for

the drawbacks that it had to confront

with, did not understood or did not want

to understand that the sociology passed

beyond the classical understanding of the

science notion, toward a super-science. It

proposed itself the dynamics analysis of

multiple systems complexity permanently

connected between themselves

(environment, man, society, etc., as parts

and totalities). To accomplish its purpose,sociology had to wait for the adequate

development of all the knowledge

segments involved in the construction of

human life. Working with totalities

(Traian Brileanu, Introducere n

sociologie/Introduction to sociology, 1930)

governed by individual13 inner laws which

constantly interact between the

themselves, it was necessary to develop a

scientific knowledge14 divided in particular

research domains that enabled the

approach to the inter and trans-systemicimplications of human existence.

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(3) A possible solution. Even if the

actual scientific movement has little

elements that can be called teleological15

and even if many contemporary scientific

orientations avoid a serious discussion

regarding the teleologically fundamental

impact of any new discovery, doubtingalmost completely this coordinate in their

development philosophy, in our concept of

Multi-dimensional Knowledge that

revaluates Meadian research

methodology16, we can point out

teleological aspects of our existence17 come

from a cross-analysis based on a

transdisciplinary dialogue.

(4) This approach revalues the

concept of transdisciplinarity as developed

by George Herbert Mead and restated

through the use of internationalcontemporary research in the field inside

the authors Ph.D. thesis entitled G.H.

Mead. Inter and transdisciplinary

synthesis as means of extending the

sociological knowledge.

2. Literature review

In the following lines we shall see

the influences that the present approach

supported. In 1926, with the ocassion of

the Sixth International Congress of

Philosophy, held in New York, G.H. Mead

presents an article entitled The Objective

Reality of Perspectives in which he

affirms the necessity of founding a

transdisciplinary framework for

approaching the problems of social reform.

In the same direction, the sociologist

Dimitrie Gusti (who was also as Mead

raised under the doctoral influence of

Wilhelm Wundt) and anthropologist

Francisc J. Rainer will present, with the

ocassion of the International Congress of

Anthropology held in Bucharest, 1939,

fundamental ideas concerning theinterdisciplinary dialogue.

Our endeavor benefited greatly from

the work done during the

Transdisciplinary Conferences held

annualy at the Eranos Club (Lago

Maggiore, near Ascona, Swiss) founded by

the Dutch Olga Froebe-Kapteyn (at the

initiative of Rudolf Otto), where, during

the years 1933-1980, personalities such as

Carl Gustave Jung, Mircea Eliade,

Georges Dumzil, etc, made their presence

felt through complex researches regardingthe dialogue between medicine,

psychiatry, psychology, history of religions

and cultures, and many more (researchers

from many fields such as physics,

chemistry, astrophysics, linguistics, etc).

Another important event is the

International Conference from Santa Fe

(1987) that introduced the concept of

science of (living, social) systemscomplexity, influence that extends during

the present time through the Centre of

Complex Studies (UNESCOs affiliation)

conducted by Florin Munteanu.

We have to mention the activity of

the Commission for Interdisciplinary

Research (Comisia pentru Cercetri

Interdisciplinare) of the Romanian

Academy that functioned during the years

1974-1989 and produced a Bulletin for

Interdisciplinary Research (Buletin pentru

Cercetri Interdisciplinare). The activity ofthis commission united Romanian

personalities such as Victor Shleanu and

Cornelia Guja.

Other important influence is that

represented by the American Researchers

Movement called Princeton Gnosis from

the 1990s that supported a powerful

reform of the scientific thinking on thwo

directions one oriented toward the

unification of the human knowledge, the

other one oriented toward the social

implementation of that knowledge.

Our effort profited greatly from the

works of the First World Congress of

Transdisciplinarity held at Convento da

Arrabida, Portugal, during november,

1994 who introduced fourteen articles that

become normative for the complex

scientific research; from the works of the

Conference for the Foundations of the

Information Science, held in Paris, during

July, 2005 where Celina Raffl presented

the article entitled Unity of Knowledge

through Diversity in Sciences.

The culminant influence was thatcome from the International Conference

entitled Transdisciplinarity and the

Unity of Knowledge: Beyond the Science

and Religion Dialogue that took place in

Philadelphia (U.S.A.) in 2007. With this

ocassion there were presented important

works covering more than 1000 pages

whose impact will be defining for the

scientific and sociological research for the

next fifty years.

The works of the Romanian

contemporary sociological andanthropological schools correlated with the

study of more than four hundred articles

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published in the international scientific

journals dedicated to the subject of

transdisciplinarity (ProQuest Data Base)

were also an important background for our

present analysis.

The present text is an extended

approach of the article-scheme of thePh.D. thesis named G.H. Mead. Inter and

transdisciplinary synthesis as means of

extending the sociological knowledge

presented by the author at the

International Conference Challanges of

Knowledge Society held in Bucharest, in

July, 2007 and of that presented in the

same framework in 2008 (Can Sociology

express a teleological direction?).

3. Theoretical BackgroundThis approach is based on

considering the following possible

development (figure 1) of sociology:

Figure 1 A possible development of sociology

This evolution scheme of sociology

resulted in the process of affirming a forth

phase development of the Meadian

structural interactionist model as

proposed by the author under the name of

Multidimensional Existence (see figure 2).

Such an approach can be fulfilled

just through a multi-dimensionalsociology (Jeffrey Alexander, Theoretical

Logic in Sociology, 198418), approach that

would reunite the methaphysical with the

empirical, the individual will with the

collective dominance, the normative action

with the instrumental one, in a synthetic

effort similar to that done by Talcott

Parsons.19

The present structural interactionist

approach is focused on the action way of

the natural and human forces act upon

society because only in this way, we canachieve a social theory that would

warrant, in its application, a social

progress, a perfecting of the social

organization20 (Traian Brileanu)21.

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Figure 2 - Multi-dimensional Existence

LEGEND: (1) Multi-dimensional Existence or Medium of Life (Unification of Profane and Sacred Spaces by means

of Significance and Extended Scientific Knowledge); (2) Five-Dimensional Reality/Sequence of Multi-Dimensional

Existence (Profane Space): (2.1) Time/Chronological History, (2.2) Width, (2.3) Height, (2.4) Length, (2.5) Mass,

(2.6) Energy Radiance Connection with Multi-Dimensional Existence classified on subtle levels of perception

frequency; (3) Insertion Point of Man into History of the Univers; (4) Human Being Sphere: Multi-Dimensional

Being who includes a double multi-insertion one in Society and the other in Cosmos; (5) Social Being Sphere

space of synergic interaction between at least to individual Human Beings; (6) Environment and Cosmos Sphere;

(7) Culture/Language/Tradition meaning: (7.1) Memory of Myths by the means of Folklore, Symbols conserving

traditional popular wisdom, (7.2) The Souls of Nations Desguising Spiritual Patterns, (7.3) Means of

Communicating Information, later enciphered in Language with Multi-Dimensional intertwined levels, (7.4)

Creative Combination between Basic Needs, Means to fulfill them, Ideals and Imagination, influenced by

Tradition, Religion, Science and Technology; (8) Religion meaning: (8.1) Primary Source of Historical Information

concerning the Phenomenology of Advanced Spirituality, (8.2) Extended Perception of different Multi-Dimensional

Sequences of Existence/Reality (see Frontier Experiments as Extra-Sensory Perception types), (8.3) DogmaticStructure stuck in a vision; (9) Science meaning: (9.1) Scientific Measurements of Sensory perceived Reality

represented by points 2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6); here the term sensory defines both Human and Technology

Perception, (9.2) Instrumentalization of Knowledge and Nature.

4. Content Analysis

Starting from the words of D.T.

Suzuki who said that when words cease

to

correspond with facts it is time for us to

part with words and return to facts [].

No further steps could we take which

would lead us to a broader field of

reality22

, we, as sociologists, arecompelled to understand that Science

means improvable certitudes or extended

knowledge based on the most pertinent

hypotheses. In the next lines, we shall see

how it is possible to approach the

fundaments of social life from a new

perspective.

The Cartezian principle cogito ergo

sum23 implies a revalorization of the six

fundamental inner forces (figure 3) acting

in man:

(1) If thereligious phenomenon is

in the nature of the human being, we must

think about it. Mircea Eliade says thatthe history of religions is the story of the

human encounter with the sacred a

universal phenomenon made evident in

myriad ways24.

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Figure 3 Structures and Forces intertwined in the human being

(2) If thefight for survival is a feature of

our existence, we must think about it. For

the entire history, the quest for survival

(A. Maslow) preoccupied man. G.H. Mead

says that this human society, made up of

social individuals that are selves, has been

intermittently and slowly digging itself in,

burrowing into matter to get to theimmediate environment of our cellular

structure, and contracting distances and

collapsing times to acquire the

environment that a self-conscious society

of men needs for its distinctive conduct.

[] By its own struggles with its insistent

difficulties, the human mind is constantly

emerging from one chrysalis after another

into constantly new worlds which it could

not possibly precise. []We, none of us,

know where we are going, but we do know

that we are on the way.25

(3) If the thurst for knowledge is a

central preoccupation of man, then we

must apply it in all that regards us (K.R.

Popper)26.

(4) If the mysterious sense of

justice (Konrad Lorenz27, Ilie Badescu)

imposes norms on us, then those have to

take into consideration the other four

implicated forces. Durkheim evidences the

fact that there is something common

regarding all the criminal dids, all the

faults: the universality of reprobation28.

(5) If the sexual urge (A.C. Kinsey,W.B. Pomeroy, W.H. Masters, V.E.

Johnson)29 creates inside us a gigantic

tension (Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm

Reich)30, then that must be directioned

harmoniously with the other four forces

and become a superior means for

personality development and couple

emotional accomplishment of affection

(Daniel Reid)31.(6) If the creative force is proved

by the dynamism of corporality that

exercises on the creative processes its

own laws and, inside the depths of

collective inconscious, they compose

together with the dynamisms of

spirituality, incredible coherences,

coincidences of opposites (coincidentia

oppositorum), between body and soul,

between nature and culture, which Jung

calls archetypes (C.G. Jung32), then this

is destined to give back to man thecomplete ontological status, that of

creative being33(Ilie Bdescu).

This acting is based on two

fundamental interacting structures the

energetic proto-form or matrix of life (H.

Burr,34 C. Guja35) and the DNA (Wilson,

1954)36 together with which forms the

Point of Anthropological Converge that

gives to each of us our present particular

being.

Coming back to the explanation of

the social force in the vision of Auguste

Comte37, we can rebuild the followinginteraction scheme (figure 4) as such:

Force

6

Force

5

Force4

Force

3

Force

2

Force

1

The PointOf Anthropological

ConvergenceProto-form

DNA structure

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Figure 4 The components of the Social Force

Only in this way we can deepen

maximally the depth level of our

sociological investigation. When we reachthe question of what is right, I have said

that the only test we can set up is whether

we have taken into account every interest

involved. What is essential is that every

interest in a man's nature which is

involved should be considered. He can

consider only the interests which come

into his problem. The scientist has to

consider all of the facts, but he considers

only those facts involved in the immediate

problem. [] The moral problem is one

which involves certain conflictinginterests. All of those interests which are

involved in conflict must be considered.38

The above formula represents the

application of the coincidentia

oppositorum principle and of the

structural pillars of human existence

according to which we shall reorient the

Meadian principle of try and error in the

purpose of experimenting even if we do not

have or cannot have the complete

teleological vision upon our existence.

Thus we apply three fundamental

principles of the Meadian thinking:

(1) when the researcher starts to

ask himself metaphysical problems, he

ceases to be a researcher (he can be aphilosopher, a theologist, etc);

(2) always the ambigous extremes

are excluded. So we must not get into a

probatio diabolica if we do not have

access to the primary cause and, in the

same time, at the teleological aspect

regarding the finality or the precise

direction of mankind;

(3) although Mead, in the purpose

of avoiding the spiritual and metaphysical

controverses, obviates the discussion

regarding the finality of society (he doesthis thing because the scientific research

regarding the spiritual aspects and that of

the abyssal social psychology did not

acquire the necessary power of

methodological and scientific

demonstration according to his standards

in the time when he analyzed the data

involved in research), he makes a few

statements containing an axiological value

regarding the role of spirituality in the

dynamics of social and individual forming.

These affirmations refer to spiritual

reformers and to geniuses. About the firstcategory, Mead considers that persons of

LEVEL I2 FUNDAMENTAL

STRUCTURES

LEVEL II

6 FUNDAMENTAL FORCES

LEVEL III

3 FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF HUMAN NATURE

LEVEL IV

ACTIVITY, AFFECT, INTELLIGENCE

LEVEL IV.I

INTELLECTUAL POWER

LEVEL IV.II

MORAL POWER

LEVEL IV.III

MATERIAL POWER

LEVEL V

SOCIAL FORCE

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great mind and great character have

strikingly changed the communities to

which they have responded. We call them

leaders, as such, but they are simply

carrying to the power this change in the

community by the individual who makes

himself a part of it, who belongs to it. Thegreat characters have been those who, by

being what they were in the community,

made that community a different one.

They have enlarged and enriched the

community. Such figures as great religious

characters in history have, through their

membership, indefinitely increased the

possible size of the community itself. Jesus

generalized the conception of the

community in terms of the family in such

a statement as that of the neighbour in

the parables. Even the man outside of thecommunity will now take that generalized

family attitude toward it, and he makes

those that are so brought into relationship

with him members of the community to

which he belongs, the community of a

universal religion. The change of the

community through the attitude of the

individual becomes, of course, peculiarly

impressive and effective in history. It

makes separate individuals stand out as

symbolic. They represent, in their

personal relationships, a new order, and

then become representative of the

community as it might exist if it were fully

developed along the lines that they had

started. New conceptions have brought

with them, through great individuals,

attitudes which enormously enlarge the

environment within which these

individuals lived. A man who is a

neighbour of anybody else in the group is a

member of a larger society, and to the

extent that he lives in such a community

he has helped to create that society.39

About the second category, Mead statesthat to the degree that we make the

community in which we live different we

all have what is essential to genius, and

which becomes genius when the effects are

profound40. In this context, N. Crainic

says that believing in Logos (meaning

in this context the Word/Sound of God in

the world) as in the divine reason of the

world, the Orthodox (Christian) doctrine

admits [] the universal validity of the

teandric principle. In its light, the

geniuses appear as natural prophets ofGod in the world (Nichifor Crainic, The

teandric mode)41.

Thus when Mead refers to the great

spiritual reformers such as Jesus Christ,

Buddha or to geniuses and the conditions

of their existence in the mankind history,

he affirms that, on one hand, the reformer

is that person raised in the social medium

that absorbs deeply and completely all thedata of this social environment and, after

passing them through the filter of their

powerful personality, restore them back to

the social structure in the most fulfilled

form through the activation of their entire

potentiality.

5. Conclusions

To find a solution to this delicate

matter, we have to start from the Meadian

perspective which argued relatively to this

aspect that for science individualexperience presupposes the organized

structure; hence it cannot provide the

material out of which the structure is built

up. This is the error of both the positivist

and of the psychological philosopher, if

scientific procedure gives us in any sense a

picture of the situation. A sharp contrast

appears between the accepted hypothesis

with its universal form and the

experiences which invalidate the earlier

theory. The reality of these experiences

lies in their happening. They were

unpredictable. They are not instances of a

law. The later theory, the one which

explains these occurrences, changes their

character and status, making them

necessary results of the world as that is

conceived under this new doctrine. This

new standpoint carries with it a backward

view, which explains the erroneous

doctrine, and accounts for the observations

which invalidated it. Every new theory

must take up into itself earlier doctrines

and rationalize the earlier exceptions. A

generalization of this attitude places thescientist in the position of anticipating

later reconstructions. He then must

conceive of his world as subject to

continuous reconstructions. A familiar

interpretation of his attitude is that the

hypothesis is thus approaching nearer and

nearer toward a reality which would never

change if it could be attained, or, from the

standpoint of the Hegelian toward a goal

at infinity. The Hegelian also undertakes

to make this continuous process of

reconstruction an organic phase in realityand to identify with nature the process of

finding exceptions and of correcting them.

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The fundamental difference between this

position and that of the scientist who looks

before and after is that the Hegelian

undertakes to make the exception in its

exceptional character a part of the reality

which transcends it, while the scientist

usually relegates the exception to theexperience of individuals who were simply

caught in an error which later

investigation removes 42.

(1) As a result of his work and being

conscious of the temporary impossibility of

complete superposing of the two

morphological horizons (spiritual and

material ones; Ilie Bdescu), the bricoleur-

researcher accepts in his study the co-

existence (C.Guja) of the non-quantifiable

and quantifiable elements of the human

and social existence. He must orientpermanently his analysis involving the

quantifiable elements towards the

explanation of the unquantifiable ones

using the transdisciplinary dialogue and

capacitating himself in approaching the

borders of knowledge. Even if the passing

of the elements from the unquantifiable

category to the quantifiable one is strictly

dependent of the progress of research and

investigation technology, though their

presence and impact can be analyzed, in

advance, through a cross-investigation

able of grasping their manifestation

hypostases.

(2) As a result of the presented

analysis, it is necessary to make a

qualitative jump from the bricolage

thinking and multidisciplinarity to an

integral and transdisciplinary perspective

founded on the existential tree as seen

by Mead and which has not only the

possibility of putting the puzzle pieces in

the right place but also of reconstructing

reality as it really is as a continuous

dynamic process with multi-dimensionallayers vividly intertwined. When we are

referring to integrality we are not talking

about a pre-conceived thinking model but

about a systematically extended dynamics

of research realized simultaneously on

multiple investigation levels and about a

continuous process of learning to which

the researcher is subjected. This processhas to cultivate new perspectives in the

mind43 of researcher capacitating him to

think and act transdisciplinarily. This

approach becomes possible borrowing the

philosophy of integral education44.

(3) The future researches have to

take into consideration that the

sociological inter and transdisciplinary

synthesis has to be a continuously growing

and open process that implies the

revaluating of the three environmental

levels of knowledge the spiritualenvironment, the material environment

(with its three simultaneous sublayers

cosmic, geologic and biological ones) and

the social environment, their intertwined

coexistence representing the most viable

context in which the scientific research

environment could develop effectively,

their impact analysis being founded on

solide empirical facts, on manifested

structures and processes. This endeavor of

syncronization has as a central target the

rebuilding of sociology as a competent

engineering science of human life, life

which offers complex opportunities of

investigation in the purpose of self and

social accomplishment and whose results

can solely avoid the total annihilation of

the human species.

Reference:

PH.D. Popescu Angel Iulian, Extracts from the Ph.D.thesis titled G.H. Mead. Inter and transdisciplinary

synthesis as means of extending the sociologicalknowledge, Doctoral School, University of Bucharest,

Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, March, 2009.

ENDNOTES

1We conclude that such a shift is needed in order to maximize the applicability of social scientific evidence to everyday life, and we share

examples situated within a socio-medical context, where there is a particular need for the application of social evidence to practice., Jeffrey

Michael Clair, Cullen Clark, Brian P. Hinote, Caroline O. Robinson, Jason A. Wasserman, Developing, integrating, and perpetuating newways of applying sociology to health, medicine, policy, and everyday life,Social Science & Medicine, Oxford, Jan 2007, Vol. 64, Iss.1,

p.248.2Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, Edited by Gordon Marshall, Oxford University Press, 1994, 1998, p.563.3Mead discusses this aspect in another part of his work. What then is Deweys presentation of reality? His method is in empirical method.

By this he means that we can do no more than point out what we find. Thought does not transcend reality as it appears in experience except

to isolate those meanings which are irrelevant to particular occurrences, for the sake of more intelligent conduct and more comprehensiveappreciation. We find in nature a vast number of things which have all sorts of relations with each other; and we are among those things.

Dewey is a pluralist., G.H. Mead, Article on The Philosophy of John Dewey,International Journal of Ethics, 46, 1936, p.79, M.P.4Regarding this aspect, Mead considers that the Appearance is the adjustment of the environment to the organism - that is, the effect which

the environment has upon the organism because of the characteristics of the organism. Reality is the effect which the environment has upon

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the organism when the organism has responded to the primary influence of the environment upon the organism., George Herbert Mead,

The Philosophy of the Act, Essay 31, Miscellaneous Fragments, Section F, Religion, Metaphysics, And Value, Edited by Charles W.Morris with John M. Brewster, Albert M. Dunham and David Miller, University of Chicago, Chicago, 1938, p.627, M.P.5Mead extends his analysis noting that the human being is social in a distinguishing fashion. Physiologically he is social in relatively few

responses. There are, of course, fundamental processes of propagation and of the care of the young which have been recognized as a part of

the social development of human intelligence. Not only is there a physiological period of infancy, but it is so lengthened that it represents

about one-third of the individual's expectation of life. Corresponding to that period, the parental relation to the individual has been increasedfar beyond the family; the development of schools, and of institutions, such as those involved in the church and the government, is an

extension of the parental relation. That is an external illustration of the indefinite complication of simple physiological processes. We take

the care of an infant form and look at it from the standpoint of the mother; we see the care that is given to the mother before the birth of thechild, the consideration that is given for providing proper food; we see the way in which the school is carried on so that the beginning of the

education of the child starts with the first year of its life in the formation of habits which are of primary importance to it; we take intoaccount education in the form of recreation, which comes one way or another into public control; in all these ways we can see what an

elaboration there is of the immediate care which parents give to children under the most primitive conditions, and yet it is nothing but a

continued complication of sets of processes which belong to the original care of the child., G.H.Mead, Mind, Self and Society from theStandpoint of a Social Behaviorist, Section 31, The Basis of Human Society: Man and the Vertebrates,Edited by Charles W. Morris.

University of Chicago, Chicago, 1934, p. 241, M.P.6tefan Berceanu, Coord., Cartea Interferenelor (The Book of Interferences), Editura tiinifici Enciclopedic, Bucureti, 1985.7The big crowds of people can act as groups, having till a certain point common objectives, but they also can act as unorganized

collectivities, meaning aggregates. For example, the audience of the crowd can be called aggregates as long as they are missing anyorganization or any stable pattern of the social relations. The term is also used in a larger sense in relation with the research or the analysis

that operates only with aggregated data that consist in statistics produced on large groups or categories (e.g. certain types of persons,

households or companies), and in which the characteristics of the individual subjects are no longer identifiable., Oxford Dictionary of

Sociology, Oxford University Press, 1994, 1998, p.22.8Mead notes that the very idea of Being, taking simply the bare idea, brings with it the conception of Not-Being, of Nothing. Being and

Nothing are identical, and yet in sharp contradiction to each other. But this opposition does not, from the Hegelian standpoint, lead simply tothe destruction of these ideas. Being and Not-Being are simply the two phases of Becoming. What becomes is Being, but what was before

the Becoming is Not-Being. As I say, then, if you try to define Being from the Hegelian point of view, you find a situation which is

practically a description of Not-Being and seems to contradict and destroy Being itself. But, if you can get hold of these as moments in a

process instead of thinking of them as the same, you find that you have a conception which harmonizes with what was previously a purecontradiction. In and of themselves, Being and Not-Being are contradictory; taken as moments in a process, they represent Becoming. Here

we get a synthesis. It is in this process of bringing together subject and object that Hegel finds contradictions, but finds them as phases which

lead to a synthesis or a higher expression of the self., G.H. Mead, Movements of Thought in the Nineteenth Century, Chapter 7, TheRomantic Philosophers - Hegel, Edited by Merritt H. Moore, University of Chicago, Chicago, 1936, pp.131-2, M.P.9Mead observes that this type of correlation is increasingly noticeable when we go from the images as such over to the thinking process.

The intelligence that is involved in perception is elaborated enormously in what we call thought., G.H.Mead, Mind, Self and Society fromthe Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, Section 15, Behaviorism and Psychological Parallelism,Edited by Charles W. Morris. University of

Chicago, Chicago, 1934, p.114, M.P.10Elena Zamfir,Psihologie Social. Texte alese (Social Psychology, Chosen Texts), Ankarom, Iai, 1997, pp.183, 193, 274-83.11Ilie Bdescu, Noologia. Cunoaterea ordinii spirituale a lumii. Sistem de sociologie noologic(Noology. The knowledge of the spiritualorder of the world. System of noological sociology), Editura Valahia, Bucureti, 2001, 2002, p.XXIIV.12Ctlin Zamfir, Ctre o pradigma gndirii sociologice (Toward a paradigm of sociological thinking), Editura Polirom, Iai, 2005, pp.72-

82.13From the Meadian point of view, the relation of individual organisms to the social whole of which they are members is analogous to the

relation of the individual cells of a multi-cellular organism to the organism as a whole., G.H.Mead, Mind, Self and Society from theStandpoint of a Social Behaviorist, Section 21, The Self and the Subjective,Edited by Charles W. Morris. University of Chicago, Chicago,1934, p.173., M.P.14In this context Mead says that the scientific knowledge, that great and growing body of knowledge by which more and more men guided

their lives, instead of being a part of philosophy had become its most baffling problem. And this had the further consequence that whateverpart of the territory that philosophy had ruled as its demesne proved to be cultivatable by experimental methods, ceased de facto to be a part

of philosophy and became a part of experimental science. Thus appeared the secession states of physiological psychology, experimental

psychology, behavioristic psychology, together with the whole list of social sciences., George Herbert Mead, The Philosophy of the Act,

Essay 28, Experimentalism as a Philosophy of History, Edited by Charles W. Morris with John M. Brewster, Albert M. Dunham and

David Miller, University of Chicago, Chicago, 1938, p.514, M.P.15Regarding the complex aspects of social determinism, see S.C. Ward, George Herbert Mead and human conduct, Choice, Middletown,

Sep 2004, Vol.42, Iss.1, p.193, www.proquest.umi.com.16Regarding the Meadian theory of perspectives, see Jack Martin, Reinterpreting Internalization and Agency through G.H. MeadsPerspectival Realism,Human Development, Basel, Apr 2006, Vol.49, Iss.2, p.65, www.proquest.umi.com.17This new approach can play also a major role in perfecting criminology researches which are still connected to political issues even if are

founded on law teleological directions. In this context see Joachim J. Savelsberg, Ryan King, Lara Cleveland, Politicized scholarship?Science on crime and the state, Social Problems, Aug 2002, 49, 3, Criminal Justice Periodicals, p.327, www.proquest.umi.com.18Jeffrey Alexander, Theoretical Logic in Sociology, 4 volumes, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1984.19Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, Edited by Gordon Marshall, Oxford University Press, 1994, 1998, p.22.20Regarding this aspect we have a strong debate in contemporary research as we can see from the following article. Universities are full ofintelligent people but this does not result in an intelligent organisation (Senge, 1990). Even if the team would consist of professional

facilitators and trainers only, one of them would have to take the role of a facilitator and to structure the process for the team - only in this

way can the competences of the individuals be used productively. The role of the process support represents, however, much more than thetechnical functions of a facilitator, like being responsible for planning and preparing the meeting and its agenda. Likewise, after the decision

of the team on the goals and priorities of the items on the agenda and the amount of time allotted to each of them at the beginning of the

meeting, the facilitator is responsible for matching the agenda agreed on with the group process. Needless to say that the help of a flip chartwhere agreements and decisions are kept visible for everybody and the keeping of minutes are indispensable., Christiane Veronika Muller,

About differences and blind spots. A systemic view on an international, interdisciplinary research team,Journal of Managerial Psychology,Vol.13, Iss. , Bradford, 1998, p.259, www.proquest.umi.com.

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21Personal translation from the original fragment in Romanian language: dobndi o teorie social care ne-ar garanta n aplicarea ei, un

progres social, o perfecionare a organizaiei sociale, Traian Brileanu, Introducere n Sociologie (Introduction to Sociology), EdituraLibrriei Ostaul Romn (Anton Rosca), Cernauti, [1923], in Traian Brileanu, Sociologie General (General Sociology), Editura

Albatros, 2003, Introduction by prof. dr. Constantin Schifirne, p.263.22D.T.Suzuki, in Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam, Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy, Part V Japanese Philosophy,

Routledge Publishing House, London, New York, 2002, p. 782.23For an extensive approach see, Iulian Popescu, Impactul social al cercetrii tiinifice franceze n viziunea lui Blaise Pascali Ren

Descartes (The social impact of the French scientific research in the vision of Blaise Pascal and Ren Descartes), Dissertation thesis in

Identity, Intercultural Communication and European Integration Sociological Perspective, UNESCOs Department-Chair for Intercultural

and Interreligious Exchanges, University of Bucharest, February, 2006, www.interculturel.org, pp.59-71.24Mircea Eliade, in Lindsay Jones, Editor in Chief,Encyclopedia of Religion, Thompson Gale, 2005, vol.1, p.XXI.25G.H.Mead, Article on Scientific Method and the Moral Sciences,International Journal of Ethics, 33, 1923, pp. 246-7.26K.R.Popper, Conjecturi i invalidri.Dezvoltarea cunoaterii tiinifice (Conjectures and invalidations. The development of scientific

knowledge), Editura Trei, Bucureti, 2001.27Konrad Lorenz, Cele opt pcate capitale ale omenirii civilizate (The eight capital sins of civilized mankind), Editura Humanitas, Bucureti,

1996.28In Ilie Bdescu,Noologia. Cunoaterea ordinii spirituale a lumii. Sistem de sociologie noologic(Noology. The knowledge of the spiritual

order of the world. System of noological sociology), Editura Valahia, Bucureti, 2001, 2002, p.182.29A.C. Kinsey, W.B. Pomeroy, C.F. Martin, P.H. Gebhart, Le comportament sexuel de lhomme (Sexual Behavior in the Human Male),

Pavoit, Paris, 1948; Idem, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, W.B. Saunders, Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, 1953;W.H. Masters, V.E. Johnson,Les reactions sexuelles (Human sexual response), Ed. R. Laffont, Paris, 1968.30Sigmund Freud, Civilisation and its Discontents, W.W. Norton, New York, 1962 [1930]; Wilhem Reich, Funcia orgasmului:

psihopatologia i sociologia vieii sexuale (The function of orgasm: psychopathology and sociology of sexual life), Editura Trei, 1995.31Daniel Reid, The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity,A modern practical approach to the ancient way, Simon & Schuster, London, 1994.32Carl Gustave Jung,Psihologie Analitici Weltanschauung (The Analytical Psychology and the Weltanschauung) (Vision of the World),

inPuterea Sufletului, Antologie (The Power of the Soul,Antology), Part I, Editura Anima, Bucureti, 1994, p.32, paragraph 717, translated inRomanian after copyright ofGesammelle Werke, vol.VIII, & 689-741,Walter Verlag, AG

Solothurn [1971-1976].33Ilie Bdescu,Noologia. Cunoaterea ordinii spirituale a lumii. Sistem de sociologie noologic(Noology. The knowledge of the spiritualorder of the world. System of noological sociology), Editura Valahia, Bucureti, 2001, 2002, pp.759-60.34Dumitru Constantin Dulcan,Inteligena Materiei (The Intelligence of the Matter), Editura Teora, Bucureti, 1992, p.73.35Man is regarded as an interface of universe. In Cornelia Guja,Aurele Corpurilor (Bodies Auras), vol. I, Editura Polirom, Iai, 1995.36James D. Watson and Francis Crick produced the first accurate model of DNA structure in 1953 in their article The Molecular structure of

Nucleic Acids.37Reconstruction made starting from Ilie Bdescu,Enciclopedia Sociologiei Universale (The Encyclopedia of Universal Sociology), Editura

Mica Valahie, Bucureti, 2005, vol.1, pp.69-73.38G.H.Mead,Mind, Self and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, Supplimentary Essay 4, Fragments on Ethics,Edited byCharles W. Morris. University of Chicago, Chicago, 1934, p.386.39G.H.Mead,Mind, Self and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, Section 28, The Social Creativity of the Emergent Self, Edited by Charles W. Morris. University of Chicago, Chicago, 1934, pp.216-7.40G.H.Mead,Mind, Self and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, Section 28, The Social Creativity of the Emergent Self, Edited by Charles W. Morris. University of Chicago, Chicago, 1934, p.218.41In Ilie Bdescu,Noologia. Cunoaterea ordinii spirituale a lumii. Sistem de sociologie noologic(Noology. The knowledge of the spiritual

order of the world. System of noological sociology), Editura Valahia, Bucureti, 2001, 2002, p.108.42G.H. Mead, Scientific Method and Individual Thinker, in John Dewey et al. (Eds.), Creative Intelligence: Essays in the PragmaticAttitude, Henry Holt and Co. (1917), New York, pp.217-8, M.P.43For an extensive approach see Jacques Boisvert, La formation de la pense critique. Thorie et pratique (The formation of critical

thinking), De Boeck, Bruxelles, 1999.44Basic features of integral education: 1. Integral education fosters the cocreative participation of all human dimensions in the learning andinquiry processes. Genuine integral learning cannot be directed exclusively by the mind, but needs to emerge from the collaborative

epistemic participation of all human dimensions: body, instincts, heart, mind, and consciousness. All human dimensions need to be actively

encouraged to participate creatively at appropriate stages of the inquiry and learning process (e.g., as inquiry tools into subject matter, as

evaluators of inquiry outcomes). 2. Integral education aims at the study and elaboration of holistic understandings, frameworks, theories, or

visions. Whether disciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, or transdisciplinary, integral inquiry allows one to build bridges acrossdisciplines and search for commonalities while honoring differences in striving toward integrated understandings that counter the partial or

fragmented current state of human knowledge. 3. Integral education fosters the activation of students unique vital potentials and theircreative development in the construction of knowledge. Each human being is a unique embodiment of the mystery potentially able todevelop a unique perspective to contribute to the transformation of community or society. When learning and inquiry are grounded in ones

unique vital potentials, academic life becomes existentially significant and more creative, exciting, and fun. 4. Integral education balances

the feminine and the masculine, combining the more masculine elements of the training of skills and analysis of extant knowledge with themore feminine element of creatively engendering new knowledge from within. A dialectical relationship between these principles exists in

the creative process, and integral education seeks practical ways to honor and actualize this relationship. 5. Integral education fosters inner

and outer epistemic diversity. Taking into account the importance of multiple perspectives for the elaboration of valid, reliable, and completeknowledge about any object of study, integral education incorporates inner or intrapersonal epistemic diversity (i.e., vital, instinctive,

somatic, empathic, intellectual, imaginal, contemplative ways of knowing) and outer or interpersonal epistemic diversity (i.e., knowledgefrom the various human collectives, ethnic groups, cultures, classes, and genders, as well as from associated cross-cultural epistemological

frameworks and standpoints). These types of diversity are intimately connected. 6. Integral education promotes the integral development and

transformation of students, faculty, and the larger educational container or institution. The inclusion of all human dimensions in the learning

process naturally enhances the transformative, healing, and spiritual power of education, as well as its potential to restructure academic

policies and institutional practices., Jorge Ferrer, Marina Romero, Ramon Albareda, The Four Seasons of Integral Education: AParticipatory Proposal, ReVision, Washington, Fall 2006, Vol.29, Iss.2, p.11, 13 pgs, www.proquest.umi.com.

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