Integral Thinking and its Application to Integral Education

Abstract

After the exploration of different kind of thinking skills oriented to discerning complex issues and phenomena, this article argues about the need to use a new modality of thinking, defined as integral thinking. Based on the holonic theory and on the proprieties of the holons and their part-whole relationships, the paper proposes and characterizes integral thinking, a kind of thinking that is holistic but also has span and profundity, going beyond conventional Aristotelian epistemic-inspired ways. Integral thinking joins in a single model the assets of premodern, modern and postmodern thinking systems; and helps in going beyond the nowadays syncretism of many perspectives. Integral thinking is the kind of thinking appropriated to the contemporary need to think integrally in science, culture, professions, and arts or about the evolution of personal consciousness. It’s useful also to be applied in the diverse professional fields, especially when comprehensive approaches are needed. Integral thinking can be used in holistic education and pedagogies. The use of integral thinking in the educational actuality can help to characterize the integral education practice and agenda.