Integrating worldviews is CLEA's defining framework. Research aims at unifying results from all the sciences and humanities into an encompassing picture of human life in the cosmos: Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going to? What is the meaning of life? This encompasses research in philosophy, “Big History” (history of life and the universe), cosmology, psychology of meaning and sense-making, and cultural anthropology of different worldviews.
For this research, CLEA is associated with the Worldviews group, which was founded by Leo Apostel before CLEA.
Representative publications
- Aerts, D., Apostel, L., De Moor, B., Hellemans, S., Maex, E., Van Belle, H., & Van der Veken, J. (2002). Worldviews: From fragmentation to integration. VUB Press. http://www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/pub/books/worldviews.html
- Heylighen, F. (2000). Foundations and methodology for an evolutionary world view: A review of the Principia Cybernetica Project. Foundations of Science, 5(4), 457–490.
- Heylighen, F. (2014). Complexity and Evolution: Fundamental concepts of a new scientific worldview. ECCO, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Books/Complexity-Evolution.pdf
- Gabora, L., & Aerts, D. (2009). A model of the emergence and evolution of integrated worldviews. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 53(5), 434–451.
- Note, N., Fornet-Betancourt, R., Estermann, J., & Aerts, D. (2008). Worldviews and cultures: Philosophical reflections from an intercultural perspective (Vol. 10). Springer Science & Business Media.
- Vidal, C. (2007). An Enduring Philosophical Agenda. Worldview Construction as a Philosophical Method.
- Vidal, Clément. (2008). What is a worldview? In De wetenschappen en het creatieve aspect van de werkelijkheid.
- Vidal, Clément. (2012). Metaphilosophical Criteria for Worldview Comparison. Metaphilosophy, 43(3), 306–347. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9973.2012.01749.x
- Vidal, C. (2014). The Beginning and the End: The Meaning of Life in a Cosmological Perspective (2014 edizione). Springer Verlag.