Seeking Understanding

The Lifelong Pursuit to Build the Scientific Mind

Editors:
Jan Visser
and
Muriel Visser
The quest to understand defines our humanness. Since time immemorial it has given rise to art and literature, philosophical reflection, religious practice, myths, metaphor, and allegory, as well as, in more recent history, disciplined scientific inquiry. Seeking understanding is a lifelong journey towards a goal the parameters of which change as our pursuit progresses, until, at life’s end, the goal vanishes beyond the horizon. Such is humanness. Along the way, we build, in an enduring self-transformative fashion, our mind—the scientific mind. But what is that mind?

A transdisciplinary team of 21 prominent authors, from areas such as music history, psychiatry, physics, cosmology, education, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, gaming, artificial intelligence, science communication, early child development, science education, and economics, shed light on what it takes humans to build and cultivate the scientific mind along the lifespan. A decade of intercultural dialogue preceded the book. It comprised six major international Building the Scientific Mind colloquia in culturally diverse settings that spanned the entire planet. Several hundred people from different disciplines and interests—among them distinguished scientists, policy and decision makers, practitioners and thinkers—contributed to the dialogue.

Building the scientific mind transforms our ‘way of being in the world.’ It is driven by the desire to understand deeply—cognitively and affectively—who we are in a world of which we are an integral part. It has great relevance for sustained human existence in the Anthropocene and profound implications for how we organize the conditions for informal and formal learning.
Copyright Year:
2020
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978-90-04-41680-2
Publication:
02 Dec 2019
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ISBN:
978-90-04-41679-6
Publication:
28 Nov 2019
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ISBN:
978-90-04-41678-9
Publication:
28 Nov 2019
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Front Matter
Copyright page
Advance Praise for Seeking Understanding
Dedication
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Figures and Tables
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: The Making of This Book and Its Roots in Creative Collaboration
Intermezzi: Thoughts Inspired by the Thoughts of Others
Chapter 1 The Quest to Know
Intermezzo 1 The Missing Piece
Chapter 2 Context Is Everything and Everything Has Meaning
Intermezzo 2 Life Starts Long before Its Beginning
Chapter 3 From Preconception to Preschool
Intermezzo 3 Touching the Encountered World
Chapter 4 Saga of a Small Science Center
Intermezzo 4 The Worthwhile Struggle to Overcome Inertia
Chapter 5 Expanding the Dialogue
Intermezzo 5 When the Sky Is Not the Limit, It Could Be the Beginning
Chapter 6 The Inspiring Universe
Intermezzo 6 Never Ever without Passion
Chapter 7 Playing the Role of Facilitator
Intermezzo 7 On Dialogue
Chapter 8 How You Talk Is How You Think; How You Think Is How You Understand
Intermezzo 8 Facing Life’s Biggest Questions
Chapter 9 Seeking to Know and Understand the Self
Intermezzo 9 A Sense of Beauty
Chapter 10 Beauty in Science, Science in Beauty
Intermezzo 10 Making the Unfamiliar Familiar
Chapter 11 Science Popularizer Is the Most Important Job That Does Not Yet Exist
Intermezzo 11 It’s Not Just a Right; It’s an Obligation to the Future
Chapter 12 Fostering Inquiry, Reasoning and Critical Thinking
Intermezzo 12 How Long Can We Still Wait and Who Takes Responsibility?
Chapter 13 The Shifting Mind of Economics
Intermezzo 13 Looking Back with a View to Looking Forward
Chapter 14 Invent the Future
Intermezzo 14 Culture of Differences vs. Difference of Cultures
Chapter 15 Seeking to Find out Why Things Happen
Intermezzo 15 Reverence for Life, Whatever Its Manifestations
Chapter 16 Nontraditional Pathways to the Development of a Scientific Mind
Intermezzo 16 Homo Ludens
Chapter 17 Education in a Complex World
Intermezzo 17 Where Science Ends
Chapter 18 HIV, Medical Science and the Call to Greater Humanness
Back Matter
Index
Jan Visser, Engineering Degree (1965), Delft University of Technology; PhD (1989), Florida State University. Jan is Theoretical Physicist and multiply awarded Cognitive Scientist. He is founding President & Senior Researcher at the Learning Development Institute and a former UNESCO Director. Jan publishes prolifically across disciplines in multiple languages.
Muriel Visser, PhD (2004), Florida State University, International Development Specialist. Muriel is an independent consultant, specialized in humanitarian and development aid evaluations. She works for international agencies around the world and is an associate researcher with the Learning Development Institute.
Foreword
 Walter R. Erdelen
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: The Making of This Book and Its Roots in Creative Collaboration
 Jan Visser and Muriel Visser
Intermezzi: Thoughts Inspired by the Thoughts of Others
 Jan Visser

1 The Quest to Know: Seeking Understanding and Wisdom
 Jan Visser
Intermezzo 1: The Missing Piece
 Jan Visser
2 Context Is Everything and Everything Has Meaning
 Robert Greenberg
Intermezzo 2: Life Starts Long before Its Beginning
 Jan Visser
3 From Preconception to Preschool: The Foundation of the Scientific Mind
 Emily Vargas-Barón
Intermezzo 3: Touching the Encountered World
 Jan Visser
4 Saga of a Small Science Center
 Arvind Gupta
Intermezzo 4: The Worthwhile Struggle to Overcome Inertia
 Jan Visser
5 Expanding the Dialogue: Challenging the Mental Models of Schooling through Indigenous Invention
 Paul E. Heckman
Intermezzo 5: When the Sky Is Not the Limit, It Could Be the Beginning
 Jan Visser
6 The Inspiring Universe
 George Miley, Carolina Ödman and Pedro Russo
Intermezzo 6: Never Ever without Passion
 Jan Visser
7 Playing the Role of Facilitator: Questioning the Curious Mind
 Jos van den Broek
Intermezzo 7: On Dialogue
 Jan Visser
8 How You Talk Is How You Think; How You Think Is How You Understand
 Paul Webb
Intermezzo 8: Facing Life’s Biggest Questions
 Jan Visser
9 Seeking to Know and Understand the Self
 Premana W. Premadi
Intermezzo 9: A Sense of Beauty
 Jan Visser
10 Beauty in Science, Science in Beauty: The Scientific Aesthetic as an Evolving Heuristic
 Matthew Colless
Intermezzo 10: Making the Unfamiliar Familiar
 Jan Visser
11 Science Popularizer Is the Most Important Job That Does Not Yet Exist: Why Modern Societies Need More Science Popularizers
 Lê Nguyên Hoang
Intermezzo 11: It’s Not Just a Right; It’s an Obligation to the Future
 Jan Visser
12 Fostering Inquiry, Reasoning and Critical Thinking
 J. Michael Spector
Intermezzo 12: How Long Can We Still Wait and Who Takes Responsibility?
 Jan Visser
13 The Shifting Mind of Economics
 Martinus Petrus de Wit
Intermezzo 13: Looking Back with a View to Looking Forward
 Jan Visser
14 Invent the Future
 Federico Mayor
Intermezzo 14: Culture of Differences vs. Difference of Cultures
 Jan Visser
15 Seeking to Find out Why Things Happen: Variations on a Theme of Diallo Sampa’s Grandfather
 Ralf Syring
Intermezzo 15: Reverence for Life, Whatever Its Manifestations
 Jan Visser
16 Nontraditional Pathways to the Development of a Scientific Mind: Examples from the Domain of Psychopathology
 Stephen P. Hinshaw
Intermezzo 16: Homo Ludens
 Jan Visser
17 Education in a Complex World: Nurturing Chaordic Agency through Game Design
 Carlo Fabricatore and Ximena López
Intermezzo 17: Where Science Ends
 Jan Visser
18 HIV, Medical Science and the Call to Greater Humanness
 James Lees

Index
Everyone interested in the history of humanity and its future throughout the Anthropocene, as conditioned by building the (scientific) mind across disciplines and domains of endeavor in arts and science.
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Publisher:
Brill
Language:
English
Pages:
xxxvi, 373 pp.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004416802

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