FOUR MODES OF DIALECTICAL THINKING

The structural thinking mode focuses on how something is part of a larger whole. In common language it is “bigger picture” thinking. In this mode, the thinker describes something as being part of a system or a structure that is stable and has a specific form in terms of layers, functions or perspectives.

The process thinking mode focuses on how something is emerging from the past and moving into the future, changing as it goes.  In this mode, the thinker describes something as being constantly in movement, never static, and changing from what it once was to what it is going to become.

The relationship thinking mode focuses on how something is connected to something else and how that relationship defines it. In this mode, the thinker describes things that would otherwise been seen as separate and different as sharing common ground to the extent that a change in one, entails a change in the other.

The transformation thinking mode focuses on how something is, in effect a living organic system. In this mode, the thinker describes something as being in unceasing transformation either to a more or less developed state, with such transformation occurring either naturally through internal or external conflict, or by virtue of human agency.