Systemic thinking and conflicts. Pedagogical avenues beyond consensus

Abstract

Conflict is one of the main theoretical objects of systemic thinking: envisaging a unity composed by interacting parts makes, in fact, a reflection on the relationship whole/parts and on system boundaries unavoidable. It is along these trajectories that – if we step back from a simplistic vision based on an idea of peaceful harmony – we can grasp those dinamycs making the unitas multiplex crossed by multiple tensions. On one side there is the potential conflict triggered by the need of differentiation and the constraints related to reciprocal coordination, on the other side there are perturbations coming from the oustide with a double side meaning: innovation and threats to the homeostasis. These tensions can assume the form of relational paradoxes or schismogenetic processes through which it is extremely difficult to structure conditions for emancipatory learning. Starting from these theoretical tenets the article will develop a reflection on conflicts related to formal educational contexts.