ABSTRACT
There is a virtual consensus among the world community of nations today that we face a set of international crises of unprecedented magnitude: poverty, famine, and increasing population pressures; ecological destruction, resource depletion, and increasing environmental pollution; materialism, militarism, the spread of arms, and violent revolution (cf. Brown 1984-8). These interrelated problems threaten both our individual health and collective survival. Hence there is urgent need for an in-depth understanding of the complex interrelationships between these problems, for any actions taken will be limited by such an understanding. Each problem has already been addressed one way or another in one forum or another with very meagre results. There is little evidence that this system of problems has been considered in as integrated and coherent a way as it demands, apparently because the traditional approach to scientific research and problem-solving constrains our ability to conceptualize problems of this magnitude. This point is often not well understood, and deserves elaboration.
