Abstract:
This article suggests how Paulo Freire’s ontology of subjective
reality is influenced through nonlinear and non‐deterministic
perspectives of a world of open and irreversible rather than
dynamically conservative systems. By problematizing the
relationship of critical theory to complexity theory, we are able to
generate an epistemology of criticality that recursively makes
meaning out of our descriptions of human interaction. This
epistemological challenge leads us to interpretive analyses that
identify recursion as a catalyst for emergence in critical group
dynamics in education. Equally, educators who are confronted
with far from equilibrium environments can utilize the concepts
of connected knowing, thematic investigation, dialogic, and
interdisciplinary teams to reflect critically on the limiting
aspects of near equilibrium conditions, contrasting them with the
potentially transformative qualities of complex systems.