University’s Transformations: Episteme, Mission and Ethos in the Contemporary World

The Cartesian principle was put forward by the philosopher as a strategy for research in greater depth. However, it turned out to be a way of understanding reality as if it were actually divided into disciplines. This segmented view of scientific knowledge clashes with the needs of today’s world, where communication is fast and allows for a quick exchange of information between producers of knowledge, making collaborative work easier, even at a distance. A significant increase in the production of scientific knowledge leads to a demand of new paradigms to understand reality. Transdisciplinarity does not invalidate disciplines, rather, by surpassing their boundaries, it aims at bringing about new approaches to produce more encompassing and integrating knowledge. This research was carried out at three higher education institutions in the Sate of São Paulo, in the South-East of Brazil.The method used was hypothetical-deductive: from the identification of a gap in scientific knowledge – the possibilities of transdisciplinary research at universities and other higher education institutions – we conducted a theoretical study about transdisciplinary research to some higher education institutions