We start by acknowledging the complexity of the modern world and the inadequacy of our current models for making sense of it. We draw on a wide range of disciplines from history to psychology, from complexity science to evolutionary biology, from philosophy to art. We are committed to learning from experience how to develop the capacities to flourish in today’s world by extending our traditional patterns of thinking and action, for example:
- a shift from a subject/object view of the world to a subject/subject view, acknowledging that ‘human systems are different’;
- an expansion in what we count as valid knowledge, eg to include a science of qualities as well as a science of quantities;
- a shift from dealing with fragments to seeing the whole;
- a shift from organisation to integrity – IFF’s own theory of how groups of individuals can come together to operate effectively in conditions of complexity;
- a shift in our relationship to time and other resources, involving the management of flows as well as assets.
This body of theory and philosophy continues to develop through our gatherings, our research and our practical project work. We published a short summary volume in 2003: Ten Things To Do In A Conceptual Emergency, have developed a set of cards with IFF Prompts, and further papers and reports are available for download from the praxis area.
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