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PATHWAYS TO SELF-DISCOVERY AS A COMPONENT OF EDUCATION FOR SYSTEMS THINKING FOR GOVERNANCE Roger Packham A COURSE RUN BY THE SYSTEMIC DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (SDI) Aim is to help Victorian State government participants to improve the complex situations confronting them in their everyday work Science searches for solutions to answerable puzzles Engineers focus on solving solvable problems These are called “Tame Problems” “WICKED” ISSUES (PROBLEMS) Wicked issues include nearly all public policy issues – such as the location of a freeway, the adjustment of a tax rate, the modification of school curricula, the confrontation of crime, the development of responsible policy for Clean Energy and Security, etc.etc. They appreciate and accommodate complexity, contingency, uncertainty and contestability These are what might be termed systemic matters involving inter-relatedness , wholeness and surprise, and a key aspect of the courses is to consider what ‘systems thinking’ means Wicked issues do not yield to categorical certainty, but require the capacity to articulate what we feel to be most worthy - what constitutes a ‘better’ way forward, an ‘improvement’ - and how this is defined and by whom? This is achieved by seeking pathways to self discovery within the participants The courses emphasise that values are knowingly or unknowingly always used to make decisions As such Sathya Sai EHV principles are an ideal guide when developing and presenting these programmes. SCIENCE, SYSTEMS AND VALUES Traditionally, science takes an ‘objective’ view of Truth This view strives to be ‘value-free’ by relying on ‘evidence’, generally using statistical tests of significance. This approach dates back to the scientific revolution developed from the time of Galileo onwards “Quantities” became important and “Qualities” were seen as secondary Systemic thinking moves beyond this to also incorporate a focus on quality, and to included intuition and values as key aspects of learning BEING SYSTEMIC Inter-relatedness, Wholeness and Surprise A concern for interactions between the parts – circular rather than linear thinking – leading to negative feedback (balance) or positive feedback (change) Looking at issues in context – not as isolated entities as is traditional in standard science Systems are made up of systems, and are parts of wider systems, and at each hierarchical level emergence (surprise) appears that cannot be predicted from a knowledge of the parts Systemic acts of development for sustainable inclusive well-being demand the epistemic (intellectual + moral) development of all of the stakeholders who need to be engaged in them Epistemic Development involves the ‘maturation’ of four sets of beliefs: • The Nature of Nature (Ontologies) • The Nature of Knowledge (Epistemologies) • The Nature of Human Nature (Axiologies - aesthetics and ethics) • The Nature of Human Inquiry (Methodologies) The way that each of us ‘acts’ in this world reflects the way that we ‘see’ it. The competencies that we express in our everyday lives reflect the worldviews – the epistemic assumptions –that we hold! ‘SEEING’ = MAKING SENSE out of our experiences Worldviews – “Windows on the World” ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALIZATIONS CONCRETE EXPERIENCES Competencies – “Bag of Tricks” ‘DOING’ = TAKING ACTION change the situation to Worldview Window as an Epistemic Matrix OBJECTIVISM CONTEXTUALISM HOLISM REDUCTIONISM Epistemic Development from Techno-centricity to Holo-centricity Thinking Planning Thinking Planning Experiencing Acting Experiencing Acting Learning about the epistemic limits to learning Learning about learning about the matter to hand Learning about the matter to hand Thinking Thinking Experiencing Experiencing Thinking Experiencing Planning Acting Planning Planning Acting Acting SPIRITUAL Innate insights CONCEPTUAL SENSUAL Concrete experiences A CRITICAL LEARNING SYSTEM Thinking Experiencing EMOTIONS Thinking Accepting Re-engaging Meditating Disengaging Experiencing Thinking Experiencing Planning Acting Planning Acting DISPOSITIONS Planning Acting ETHICS AND VALUES Often ignored in science These add to the model through a third dimension They are critical to how we see the world, and what we decide to do in the world Different ethical systems can be identified: Consequentialism (utilitarian) Deontological (Rights-based) Virtue ethics DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS Sometimes referred to as duty ethics, as it places the emphasis on following rules, or doing one's "duty" Which rules to follow? is often a point of contention Deontology also postulates the existence of moral absolutes that make an action moral Based on the work of Immanuel Kant. CONSEQUENTIALISM (UTILITARIAN) Here the morality of an action is based upon the consequences of the outcome Instead of saying that one has a moral duty to abstain from murder, a consequentialist would say that we should abstain from murder because it causes some undesirable effect The Greatest Happiness Principle of John Stuart Mill is one of the most commonly adopted criterion VIRTUE ETHICS While deontology focuses on following rules And consequentialism focuses on the outcomes of actions Virtue ethics differs in that the focus is instead upon being rather than doing Virtue ethics identifies virtues as desirable characteristics which the moral or virtuous person embodies Possessing these virtues are what makes one moral A virtue is a habit or quality that allows the bearer to succeed at his or her purpose Action cannot be used as a demarcation of morality, because a virtue encompasses more than just a simple selection of action Instead, it is about a way of being that would cause the person exhibiting the virtue to make a certain "virtuous" choice consistently in each situation There is a great deal of disagreement within virtue ethics over what are virtues and what are not. There are also difficulties in identifying what is the "virtuous" action to take in all circumstances, and how does one define a virtue? SATHYA SAI EHV CAN INFORM VIRTUE ETHICS A system of virtue theory is only intelligible if it includes an account of the purpose of human life, the meaning of life: Swami’s teachings give us this He tells us that our actions should be governed by the principles of Love, Peace, Truth, Right Action, Non-Violence These are not “rules” but ideal principles for each of us to incorporate into our ‘way of being’ to become virtuous CONCLUSION From the standpoint of Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings, I believe that the cornerstone of the course that I have outlined encourages the drawing out of the inherent values that are within all the participants Thereby helping the participants to find pathways to self discovery that will lead to improvements in their lives, as well as an improved – a better - society