ABSTRACT
This chapter offers critical summaries of the theories that have directly influenced the development of BirD. Bird is a bi-relational approach to onto-epistemological development that is particularly relevant to the recognition and (re)solution of wicked problems. The chapter draws the general insights from the theoretical frameworks that inform the intended nature of BirD. BirD is an attempt to map onto-epistemological trajectories in relation to dyads and dyadic relationships. It is informed by, but seeks to further develop existing theories of human development in relation to wicked problems. Specifically, the nature of BirD is defined by its relational and contextual reconciliation of ontology and epistemology, individual and social, concrete and abstract, domain-general and domain-specific, order and chaos, and unity and multiplicity. The chapter emphasises that BirD uses a uniquely explicit bi-relational approach, problematises linear and teleological assumptions and exclusively constructivistic conceptualisations of knowledge and knowing and co-emphasises the domain-specificity and domain-generality of knowledge the epistemological and ontological dimensions of human development.
