Towards complexity thinking with Juri Lotman: modelling cultural dynamics in educational systems
Date
2023-07-11
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Abstract
Haridussüsteemides nähakse sageli olulist platvormi globaalsete probleemide lahendamiseks ning ühiskondlike muutuste juhtimiseks. Samas ei pruugi haridusvaldkonnas toimuvad protsessid alati kulgeda lineaarselt õppekavadest soovitud muutusteni ühiskonnas. Vaatamata kõikvõimalikele püüdlustele planeerida, juhtida ja mõõta hariduse mitmetasandilisi protsesse võivad need siiski viia ootamatute tulemusteni. Üks võimalus taolisi arenguid kirjeldada on modelleerida haridust kui kompleksset süsteemi. Komplekssüsteemide uuringud pakuvad raamistikku, mille abil on võimalik mõtestada süsteemi osade vahelisest mittelineaarsest vastastikmõjust tingitud ennustamatust. Kuigi osade vaheliste keeruliste seoste kirjeldamine ei võimalda meil paremini ennustada täpseid arengusuundi, võib see aidata tuvastada muutuste mustreid sellistes süsteemides. Problemaatiline tundub aga olevat see, et komplekssuse mõistmise raamistikud on peamiselt inspireeritud loodus- ja täppisteaduste valdkondades tehtud uuringutest. Ehkki kõiki kompleksseid süsteeme saab kirjeldada mõningate ühiste põhimõtete alusel, on nende süsteemide käitumises ka suuri erinevusi, sõltuvalt sellest, kas me vaatleme komplekssust füüsilistes süsteemides või kultuuris. Doktoritöö käsitleb Juri Lotmani semiootilise teooria potentsiaali kultuuri kui kompleksse süsteemi eripära täpsustamiseks. Juri Lotmani kultuurisemiootikast tulenev komplekssuspõhine lähenemine suudab hoida kultuuri staatilis-dünaamilist mõõdet paradoksaalses pinges ning selle kaudu käsitleda ühtaegu nii lineaarseid protsesse kui ka ennustamatuid arenguid, vaadeldes neid üksteist vastastikku tingivatena. Doktoritöö selgitab, kuidas Lotmani komplekssusraamistik võimaldab modelleerida kultuuridünaamika ja kultuuri struktuurilise korralduse vahelist suhet ning võib seega pakkuda väärtuslikku sisendit haridusvaldkonna jaoks, kus küsimus erinevate mudelite suutlikkuse kohta soovitud muutuste esilekutsumiseks on kriitilise tähtsusega.
Societies tend to put a lot of hope and pressure on education to serve as a ground for tackling global challenges and initiating change towards societal goals. At the same time, change in educational systems does not always follow a linear path of development from educational agendas to the desired outcomes. Despite the attempts to plan, manage and measure these multilevel processes they can still lead to unforeseen results. One way to account for such indeterminacy is to model education as a complex system. Complexity research provides a framework for making sense of nonlinear interactions between the parts of a system that result in unpredictable outcomes. While describing the intricate relations between parts does not allow us to predict the exact trajectories of development, it can enable to identify patterns of change in such systems. What appears problematic is that the frameworks for understanding complexity are mainly inspired by research conducted in hard sciences. While all complex systems can be described by some common principles, there are also profound differences in how these systems behave depending on whether we observe complexity in physical systems or in culture. The thesis proposes that Juri Lotman’s semiotic theory offers a valuable perspective for elaborating the particularity of culture as a complex system. The complexity thinking approach stemming from Lotman’s ideas allows to maintain the static–dynamic dimension of cultural processes in paradoxical tension and, through that, has the potential to address both linear developments as well as unexpected bifurcations and view them as mutually conditional. The dissertation explicates how Lotmanian complexity framework enables to model the relation between cultural dynamics and the structural organisation of culture and can thus provide a valuable insight for the field of education where the question regarding the capacity of various models to initiate the desired change is of critical importance.
Societies tend to put a lot of hope and pressure on education to serve as a ground for tackling global challenges and initiating change towards societal goals. At the same time, change in educational systems does not always follow a linear path of development from educational agendas to the desired outcomes. Despite the attempts to plan, manage and measure these multilevel processes they can still lead to unforeseen results. One way to account for such indeterminacy is to model education as a complex system. Complexity research provides a framework for making sense of nonlinear interactions between the parts of a system that result in unpredictable outcomes. While describing the intricate relations between parts does not allow us to predict the exact trajectories of development, it can enable to identify patterns of change in such systems. What appears problematic is that the frameworks for understanding complexity are mainly inspired by research conducted in hard sciences. While all complex systems can be described by some common principles, there are also profound differences in how these systems behave depending on whether we observe complexity in physical systems or in culture. The thesis proposes that Juri Lotman’s semiotic theory offers a valuable perspective for elaborating the particularity of culture as a complex system. The complexity thinking approach stemming from Lotman’s ideas allows to maintain the static–dynamic dimension of cultural processes in paradoxical tension and, through that, has the potential to address both linear developments as well as unexpected bifurcations and view them as mutually conditional. The dissertation explicates how Lotmanian complexity framework enables to model the relation between cultural dynamics and the structural organisation of culture and can thus provide a valuable insight for the field of education where the question regarding the capacity of various models to initiate the desired change is of critical importance.
Description
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Keywords
semiotics, semioticians, cultural semiotics, cultural theory, education, educational systems