Complexity Sciences and Indigenous Thought

concepts and philosophical principles for eco-centered education

Abstract

Scientists from various fields of knowledge, philosophers, environmental activists, indigenous leaders, among others, have been warning about the depredation of Earth's biodiversity caused by human beings, compromising not only their existence, but also the life of this system. As has been warned by thinkers in the sciences of complexity for some decades now, establishing a dialogue between the various areas of specialization in science and embracing knowledge originating from ancestral peoples and cultures, in a transdisciplinary manner, constitute fundamental reserves for thinking about and transforming the current world and projecting future possibilities. This article is the result of an ongoing research project at a federal public university through which, through a broad literature review, we have investigated concepts, ideas, notions and propositions of thinkers in the sciences of complexity articulated with Amerindian thought, overcoming dichotomies considered as hegemonic between human beings and nature, human sciences and natural sciences, scientific knowledge and traditional knowledge, scientific culture and humanistic culture. This article explains this effort to “ecologize ideas” for the exercise of philosophy in the direction of an eco-centered education nourished by the reform of thought, which implies a non-pragmatic but paradigmatic change in education, as proposed by Morin (2003), thus raising reflections that expand awareness among adults, young people and children of our role in the Earth's biotic community.