On social forecasting, transdisciplinarity, and a human being

Abstract

Nowadays, the transition from the fragmentation of the process of acquiring scientific knowledge to converged scientific knowledge involves collaboration of the representatives of various disciplines. As a result, they create synergistic connections of knowledge, which contributes to the elaboration of new concepts, the solution of complex problems and, ultimately, the development of a new scientific product. Multidisciplinary research teams collaborate in a program without integrating concepts, epistemologies, and methodologies, interdisciplinary research teams integrate various concepts, epistemologies, and methodologies, whereas transdisciplinary teams “transgress” the boundaries of disciplines, create a common conceptual model, which is based on a new vision of different levels of reality. A transdisciplinary approach to social forecasting has a potential to consider all sciences in a humanitarian context with respect to specific holistic human nature. Thus, it goes beyond traditional boundaries, synthesize, integrate solutions to the problems and rise above them. This paper attempts to offer a launching pad for linking up different fields of knowledge in the context of social forecasting.