School of Thinking

The General Track of the School of Thinking integrates multiple modes of learning, combining thought-provoking lectures and discussions with experiential workshops, personal or group projects, and self-directed study supported by one-on-one consultations with the faculty. Each group of 12 to 26 students is hosted by facilitators who support the learning process and assist in making connections between various activities offered in the programme.

The postgraduate course is conducted entirely in English. It takes one academic year (two semesters) to accomplish. The curriculum consists of 750 hours of study, which includes 174 instruction /contact hours and 576 hours of flexibly scheduled individual and group work. 

The contact hours are divided into intense two-day learning sessions called Twin-Days which are divided into a “Seed” day focused on providing new input through lectures and panel discussions, followed by an “Explore” day engaging the participants through experiments, exercises and play to co-create the learning experience and build on new ideas (see the Workflows for an example).

• Seed Days. A day of lectures and panel discussions delivered by faculty members who are present on-campus or remotely depending on availability; students are present on-campus. Typically the first part of a monthly Twin-Day SoT session (Thursdays, 10:00-16:00).
• Explore Days. A full day of workshops at VUB campus in Etterbeek, Brussels, guided by facilitators to deepen the content offered during Seed Days and link it with other elements of the curriculum. Typically the second part of a monthly Twin-Day SoT session (Fridays, 10:00-18:00).

Twin-days amount to an average workload of slightly more than 2 days per month. The additional individual and group work is estimated to take about 3 to 4 days per month, scheduled at students’ own pace. A good rule of thumb is that attending the School of Thinking takes roughly one week of work per month (depending on the individual).

Find out more about the programme here.

Main courses of the programme: 

Thinking about Thinking 

This part of the program provides the foundational concepts and language to think – and talk – about thinking. Integrating multiple perspectives provided by cognitive science it explores the mind/brain as an embodied, biological, cybernetic system – and then asks how it is possible for such a system to perceive and represent its environment, exhibit intelligence, and be the seat of consciousness.

The course consists of the following parts (more details and updates will follow).

• What is thinking? (10h) with Prof. Francis Heylighen. A comprehensive introduction to what we think we know about thinking delivered in the form of knowledge-intense lectures.
• The brain (6h) with Prof. em. Romain Meeusen. A glimpse of the biology behind perception, consciousness, learning, and cognitive aging, and of the relation between the body and the mind.
• Non-human thinking and embodied cognition (4h) with Dr. Clément Vidal and Meredith Root-Bernstein, PhD. A seminar exploring the concrete, experiential nature of thinking and the way it includes the entirety of the thinker’s body (and sometimes its tools and environment).
• Thinking Better (12h) with a.o. Prof. Francis Heylighen, Prof. Jean-Paul Van Bendegem (TBC), and Prof. Gerard de Zeeuw. A recurring panel discussion, bridging the gap between deep philosophical questions about thinking, and the very pragmatic task of improving it. Renowned researchers bring together the perspective of philosophy, logic(s), cognitive science and action research to explore what it means to become more intelligent, rational, logical or effective at thinking – and how to achieve it. The program of the panel is largely set by the students themselves. Most of the sessions of Thinking Better are shaped by questions brainstormed by students at the conclusion of the previous session – in reaction to the class and the associated readings.

Thinking Toolkit 

The largest part of the curriculum provides the students with a rich array of advanced thinking frameworks, methods, and tools. It consists of several smaller modules, each introducing a certain approach to thinking.

The course consists of the following parts:

• Fallacies and biases (6h) with Maciej Świeży, PhD
• Critical thinking (6h) with Karin Verelst, PhD
• Divergent and lateral thinking (6h) with prof. Edward Nęcka (TBC)
• Extended mind (6h) with Orion Maxted and Katarina Petrovič
• Co-thinking (6h) with Iwona Sołtysińska (TBC)
• Paradoxical Thinking with Karin Verelst, PhD
• Dialectical thinking (6h) with Cadell Last, PhD
• Systems thinking (6h) with mag. Stefan Blachfellner (TBC)
• Complexity thinking (6h) with prof. Cathy Macharis
• Game thinking (6h) with Weaver, D.W. Weinbaum, PhD.
• Worldviews and identities (6h) with Paul Wouters
• Worldviews and the Noosphere with Clément Vidal, PhD
• Nurturing intelligence (6h) with Lotte Van Lith
• Engaged Thinking with Barbara Van Dyck, PhD
• Art, Culture and Self-Reflective Thinking with Saddie Choua

Updates here.

Beautiful Minds

Beautiful Minds is a guided study in going beyond extraordinary contributions to human culture in order to recognize the minds that were able to call them to life. Inspired by the practice of art appreciation, the course asks: “What if minds could be experienced and appreciated for their beauty?”. It invites the students to explore and celebrate unique ways of thinking, thus helping them to expand their own range of approaches to how one could think.

Founded on a specific philosophical and aesthetic toolkit, explained in introductory lectures (4h) it also consists of interactive workshops (10h), individual or group work (60h), as well as 1h of consultation for each working group or person. It is facilitated by Weaver D.R. Weinbaum, PhD - in cooperation with other instructors.

Thinking Studio

Serving as space for integrating new learning and translating it to life outside the program, the Thinking Studio is a recurring workshop that aims for stability and containment among all the creative chaos. Facilitated by the program founder or current director, the workshop provides a group learning environment for integrating the teaching and learning processes happening in the entire programme. Special emphasis is put on the integration of the new knowledge, ideas, and skills into the unique everyday practice of each student.

Thinking Studio doubles as a source of inspiration and guidance for individual projects carried out by the students. It presents them with three long-term tasks that can be adapted to specific personal and professional contexts.

• Intervention (Portfolio task 2) happens in social context. The participants choose a specific problem caused or worsened by apparent limitations of thinking – and then try to understand it deeper, possibly helping to develop a way to go beyond the limitations.
• Dialogue (Portfolio task 3) is a creative writing exercise in which the students come to grips with various potential parts that their own minds consist of.

This course is facilitated by Orion Maxted and Evo Busseniers - in coordination with Karin Verelst and for each specific course with its respective instructor. It comprises 26 hours of workshops, 3 hours of individual consultations, 52 hours dedicated to individual exercises, and 52 hours dedicated to writing the final reports.

Engaged Thinking

From its inception the VUB has always prided itself on its guiding philosophy of Liberal Enquiry and Free Thinking, as reflected in its mottos ‘Thinking should never submit itself’, ‘Reason and Engage’ and ‘Nothing is unthinkable’, and more generally in its striving for diversity of perspectives, interdisciplinary collaboration, and engagement with contemporary issues. Free, critical, creative, and independent thinking, being the focus of our programme, constitutes a core element of the university’s DNA and is consistently taught in several well established open seminar series, organised around the campus.

Our programme interlinks these initiatives, making the participation in the selected series into an integral part of the curriculum. The students select at least one among the on-going series and follow it throughout one semester. In addition to the regular participation, the students carry out an observation assignment designed to advance their understanding of the processes of co-thinking.