Transformative Learning for a New Worldview
Dublin Core
Title
Transformative Learning for a New Worldview
Subject
Transformative Learning for a New Worldview Learning to Think Differently
Description
The phrase ‘learning to think differently’ is often used today and in a variety of contexts. Its meaning in this essay therefore needs to be clearly stated at the outset. As the title indicates, it is a process in which all our inherited assumptions about the world and ourselves are questioned, thus clearing the ground, so to speak, for the construction of an altern- ative set of assumptions (or worldview) that is more appropriate for our times. Not only is the substance of our thought (basic assumptions) changed but even the mode of our thinking. The process by which this happens is termed ‘transformative learning’. This essay is an attempt to describe this process as it is occurring today and in which all of us, willingly or not, are involved and to suggest how we might facilitate it.
In the past half century there has been a tremendous increase in the production and consumption of goods and services worldwide. All along it has been assumed that this would improve the well-being of all people everywhere in the world. In the first decade of the 21st century, there are good reasons to question this assumption. There is now more food produced but no reduction in the extent of malnutrition from lack of food. Some old diseases have been controlled, but many have not, and some of those that were controlled are again on the increase. Yet other diseases are on the increase from excessive food consumption. Equally disconcerting are the host of new and mostly unexpected problems that increased production and consumption have created – environmental degradation, social disintegration, increasing economic disparities, loss of cultural diversity and escalating conflicts over access to dwindling natural resources. All the frantic efforts to ameliorate these problems – more education, scholarly studies, scientific research and aid – do not seem to be having very much effect.
In the past half century there has been a tremendous increase in the production and consumption of goods and services worldwide. All along it has been assumed that this would improve the well-being of all people everywhere in the world. In the first decade of the 21st century, there are good reasons to question this assumption. There is now more food produced but no reduction in the extent of malnutrition from lack of food. Some old diseases have been controlled, but many have not, and some of those that were controlled are again on the increase. Yet other diseases are on the increase from excessive food consumption. Equally disconcerting are the host of new and mostly unexpected problems that increased production and consumption have created – environmental degradation, social disintegration, increasing economic disparities, loss of cultural diversity and escalating conflicts over access to dwindling natural resources. All the frantic efforts to ameliorate these problems – more education, scholarly studies, scientific research and aid – do not seem to be having very much effect.
Creator
M. G. Jackson
Files
Collection
Citation
M. G. Jackson, “Transformative Learning for a New Worldview,” Portal Ebook UNTAG SURABAYA, accessed March 15, 2025, https://ebook.untag-sby.ac.id/items/show/87.