In the age of knowledge, universities enter a stage of innovation in response to the new challenges of the 21st century. The fundamental purpose of the university is the creation of knowledge. The way to create knowledge is research. The main instrument of research is the scientific method. The scientific method has been successful in the natural sciences, however the same result is not seen in the human sciences. Reason why: in the 21st century we have human problems still unresolved. Paradoxically, we live in the age of knowledge and technological development with destructive and self-destructive human behavior. We are facing two situations, either the scientific method is not applicable to the human dimension or we need to innovate the method.

Technological development is evidence of the success of the scientific method in the natural sciences, and the global problems of humanity are evidence of the application limits of the scientific method in the human sciences. This fact inevitably leads us to innovation of the research method. The concept of innovation of the research method contemplates the following reality:

  • the global era and global problems;
  • the age of knowledge and the need for transdisciplinarity;
  • transdisciplinarity and the need for epistemological foundations;
  • the need to integrate philosophy, science and technique.

This new reality is a new challenge for universities. To overcome this challenge, universities must direct their objective towards the innovation of the method to promote research.

The innovation of the research method is the transcendent leap that a university can take, since it is the solution at the level of its essence. This great leap of the universities will naturally mark the new era of research, and its quantifiable results will determine the new ranking of universities in the era of knowledge. All university rankings are mainly focused around research, therefore the innovation of the research instrument with the implementation of the research method will be the beginning of a new stage in the creation of knowledge in universities.

The current limits of research

Before analyzing the limits of research, it is necessary to identify and differentiate the fields of knowledge and research:

  • fields of knowledge: includes natural sciences, human sciences and philosophy;
  • fields of research: research comprises three defined fields: nature, human beings and the universe.

The criteria to determine the limits of scientific research are: the foundations, the research method, types of research, and the results of the research.

Foundation

The foundations in the natural sciences are scientific laws. The foundations in the human sciences to this day remain undiscovered. The foundations of philosophy are outdated principles belonging to the history of philosophy. Therefore, research in philosophy and the human sciences is backward for lack of its foundations.

The research method

At present, the scientific method is used for both the natural sciences and the human sciences. The scientific method has been successful in the natural sciences, however it has failed in the human sciences. In the field of philosophy, there is also evidence of a backwardness in research, for this reason, the innovation of the method is expected to respond to global problems.

Types of research

In the natural sciences, quantitative research predominates. In the human sciences, qualitative research predominates, although without success. In philosophical research predominates hermeneutics, the interpretation of philosophical thoughts. Research is not focused on fundamental problems, because philosophy itself lacks an updated philosophical method. The philosophical methods used today lead to the fragmentation of thought. This is paradoxical, on the one hand there is the need for the integration of humanity from philosophy, and on the other hand, in practice philosophy leads to fragmentation.

The results of the investigation

In the field of natural sciences, technological development is seen as a result. In the field of human sciences, positive results are not appreciated, the evidence of this is the unresolved global problems of the human being, and with a tendency toward self-destruction.

China

The Princonser method and innovation in research

Based on the limits of scientific research, especially for the complex fields that comprise the human dimension, the need arises to innovate the research method for the fields of human sciences and philosophy. Thus, great innovations in the fundamentals imply innovation in the research method. Innovation in the research method will open a new era in the essence of universities. As the backwardness in research in the fields of human sciences and philosophy is due to the lack of innovation of the method.

Innovation in the foundation

The foundations in the natural sciences are scientific laws. The field of research of the natural sciences are determined realities that allow us to apply the experimental method. However, the next step of the innovation in the foundation is the integration of the laws based on epistemological foundations, this foundation gives us the Princonser method. The human sciences, due to their complexity, require universal laws as a foundation. Philosophy, having as its object of study the totality, requires universal principles as a foundation. Therefore, innovation in the fundamentals implies innovation in the research method. The Princonser method responds to this innovation.

Innovation in the research method

The innovation of the research method begins with the implementation of the method in philosophy. Thus the Princonser philosophical method is a response to the crisis of philosophy. The crisis of philosophy is itself the crisis of its method. The application of the Princonser method implies innovation in the research method in science, mainly in the field of human sciences. Thus we will have the Princonser method to apply in philosophy, human sciences and also in natural sciences.

Innovation in the types of research

The types of research arise with the innovation of the Princonser method. So we can have philosophical inquiry and scientific inquiry. Scientific research at the same time would have a subdivision in quantitative research for the natural sciences and for the human sciences, due to its complexity, scientific and philosophical research would be shared.

The results of the research

With the innovation of the research method, changes in the results will be inevitable. We will have as a result, technological development with a tendency towards planetary technological integration, human development with a tendency towards the integration of humanity, and the integrated philosophy of the 21st century.

China

Expected results with the princonser method

There are three types of results to be expected, as follows.

Technological development

Technological development at a planetary level must achieve integration. Technological integration is necessary to order life on the planet and establish the balance of ecosystems to achieve harmony of human life within nature. At present humanity follows a path to ecological disorder. Technological development advances without philosophical meaning, therefore, it is unsustainable. The Princonser philosophy is a contribution towards technological integration.

Human development

Human development has stopped and has taken the path to self-destruction. With the innovation of the research method we can embark on a new path of human development, since the Princonser method is a philosophical instrument applicable in science. Research in the human sciences has been held back only by lack of innovation in method. The implementation of the Princonser method will lead to the progress of universities through research. Universities are the ideal institutions to solve the world's problems through knowledge. Knowledge of the human being is the basis for human development.

Philosophical integration

The Princonser philosophical method allows us to integrate efforts towards an objective that requires the conservation of the beings of the universe, therefore, it takes as its foundations the universal essence and universal principles.

The new ranking of universities

Technological development, human development and philosophical integration open a new horizon in research at universities. The innovation in the method brings as an inevitable consequence the development in research. The development in research will result in the new ranking in universities.

Articulation of the university with the national and world reality

Currently, the research works have as their main purpose to obtain the academic degree, for this reason there is no requirement of research based on the results, considering that the results are the creation of techniques. With the innovation of the research method, the problem of disarticulation of the university and human problems is overcome. The so-called era of knowledge will end in the new systematization of human knowledge, which will be the basis for the formation of the planetary consciousness. A planetary consciousness will be the basis for the integration of humanity.

The development of investigations according to the problems of the national and world reality

Humanity today is on the way to self-destruction. The problem is the lack of self-knowledge. The lack of self-knowledge is due to the current limits of scientific research in the human sciences. The innovation of the research method will lead to self-knowledge and cultivate planetary consciousness. A planetary consciousness will allow us to preserve ourselves as a system integrated with nature and the universe.

The training of professionals with a profile of global citizenship with universal wisdom

Universities will be the new training centers of universal wisdom. The universal wisdom is the complement of the formation of the specializations. Currently, the era of specialties opens the next step in the integration of human knowledge in universal wisdom. Universal wisdom includes ontological, epistemological, anthropo-philosophical and axiological foundations.

The university and its Princonser Research Institute

To enter the new era of research, universities need to create their Princonser Research Institute. The Princonser Research Institute will concentrate the best researchers, creators of new techniques; it will also concentrate the advances in university research.

Thus, the implementation and application of the Princonser method requires an institution with philosophical, academic and administrative support. Said institution will be known as the ‘Princonser Research Institute’. Each university must have such an institute to give it formality, autonomy and development in the production of knowledge through research.

Thus, the purpose of the institute is to innovate methods and promote research in all fields of knowledge.

  1. Mission: implement the new Princonser method as the innovation of research in all fields of knowledge.
  2. Vision: to be the training, promoting and evaluating entity in the new era of research at the university.
  3. Objectives: six objective of the Princonser Research Institute are:
  • implement the new Princonser research method;
  • develop research work using the Princonser method;
  • develop application techniques with the Princonser method;
  • develop courses, diplomas and specializations on the Princonser method for professionals graduated from other universities;
  • organize national and international conferences on advances in research with the Princonser method;
  • award prizes for the best research papers.