Edgar Morin's Methodology for Complex Thought
Discussion
Edgar Morin's Methodology for Complex Thought
Tim Winton:
"Edgar Morin's ... approach is not to work primarily from the establishment of a philosophical position or theoretical framework. He deliberately constructs a Method , a kind of ‘active inquiry’, which takes as its central and foundational rational the refusal to be pinned down in dualistic thought.
‘Morin’ s broader vision of complexity and of thought explicitly connects reason and emotion, wisdom and compassion, idealism and realism, and the other oppositions that have been created and are representatives of what he calls “ simple thought.”’ (Montuori, 2004)
Through the idea of complexity and the discipline of Complex Thought, Morin, then, is contributing an essential component to integrative work. His Method points out the subtle interpreted duality created through the establishment of epistemological and ontological positions, no matter how ‘nondual’ they may intend to be in-and-of themselves. This approach gives us a means of resolution.
As Alfonso Montouri points out,
- “Morin’s method outlines a way of approaching inquiry that does not reduce or separate, and does justice to the complexity of life and experience.” (Morin,2008)
For Morin understanding complexity becomes the means of integrating dualities. And as do both Wilber and Bhaskar, he understands the importance of the connection between nonduality, the deep meaning of a spirituality so situated, and the provision of an integrated world. Montuori states that The fact that the introductory chapter to the first volume of [Morin’s] Method is called The Spirit of the Valley, drawing explicitly on the Taoist tradition, is significant in many ways, pointing to what Morin calls the dialogical (not dialectical because there is no guaranteed resolution) relationship between traditional polarities, and to a deep, underlying spiritual thread running throughout Morin’s work. It reminds us that the spiritual is always present in his work, but in a far subtler way than has become the norm these days." (2004)