Interdisciplinarity in Historical Perspective (original) (raw)
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New Directions in Interdisciplinarity: Broad, Deep, and Critical
Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 2007
Aristotle launched Western knowledge on a trajectory toward disciplinarity that continues to this day. But is the knowledge management project that began with Aristotle adequate for the age of Google? Perhaps an undisciplined discourse more evocative of Plato can help us constitute new, more relevant inter- and transdisciplinary forms of knowledge. This article explores the history of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, arguing for a new, critical form of interdisciplinarity that moves beyond the academy into dialogue with the public and private sectors. Contemporary knowledge production should involve not only a horizontal axis stretching across academia but also a vertical axis where academic research is integrated into contemporary life.
The interdisciplinarity revolution
Theoria, 2019
Contemporary interdisciplinary research is often described as bringing some important changes in the structure and aims of the scientific enterprise. Sometimes, it is even characterized as a sort of Kuhnian scientific revolution. In this paper, the analogy between interdisciplinarity and scientific revolutions will be analysed. It will be suggested that the way in which interdisciplinarity is promoted looks similar to how new paradigms were described and defended in some episodes of revolutionary scientific change. However, contrary to what happens during some scientific revolutions, the rhetoric with which interdisciplinarity is promoted does not seem to be accompanied by a strong agreement about what interdisciplinarity actually is. In the end, contemporary interdisciplinarity could be defined as being in a 'pre-paradigmatic' phase, with the very talk promoting interdisciplinarity being a possible obstacle to its maturity.
The Theoretical Foundations and Historical Development of Interdisciplinarity
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The concept of interdisciplinarity has a long history but interpretations of this term and the importance of interdisciplinarity in research and education have varied over time. This chapter traces the theoretical understanding and historical development of interdisciplinarity to provide background and context for the book. First it examines the ways in which interdisciplinarity and similar phenomena have been conceptualized in the literature. A roughly chronological account of the main theoretical and empirical developments in interdisciplinarity is then set out, divided into three main periods dating from the early 20 th century to the present day.
Scientific Rationality, Disciplinarity, and Interdisciplinarity
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Translation of "Rationalité scientifique, disciplinarité et interdisciplinarité", Nouvelles perspectives en sciences sociales, vol. 16, no 2, 2021, p. 201-236. Abstract This article questions the possibility of an interdisciplinarity that would be practiced outside the scientific field. To provide some answer, it shows how philosophy is intrinsically associated with subjectivity, how science progressively pulls away from philosophy, how this distancing enables the division of knowledge, how the division of knowledge calls for interdisciplinarity. Having established that, it reports some requests for an unscientific interdisciplinarity and then shows that these aspirations relate more to philosophy than interdisciplinarity.
European Review, 2018
Research about interdisciplinary research is less and less done by those doing it. This paper tries to reflect upon my own interdisciplinary practices and experiences. In the first part, I present an example of successful interdisciplinary research. Then, I attempt to introduce two nested cases of interdisciplinary scholarship and their development, one being my ‘Fakultät’ (which roughly equals a department) and the other, smaller one, being my research group. In the third part, I attempt to offer explanations for the development described with reference to some of the burgeoning literature on interdisciplinarity. Incentive structures, epistemological challenges such as disciplinary capture and structural effects of the hosting university are discussed. In a final section, othering as an inevitable process is used to elucidate the dynamics of developments within and beyond academia and to draw conclusions about the two cases presented.
Interdisciplinariety: A perspective from the dynamics of scientific production and communication
In his six-volume “The University, studies on its origins, dynamics and trends” [“La Universidad estudios sobre sus orígenes Dinámicas y tendencias”], Borrero (2008) states that interdisciplinariety can be understood in two semantic sets. On the one hand, it refers to a set of specific attributes that permit an account of the relationships between sciences and disciplines; on the other, it is the relationship between disciplines and the distinction with everything that is mono-disciplinar (Borrero, 2008). As such, the multidisciplinary (juxtaposition of disciplines) implies a set of assertions of epistemological plurality, discontinuity, relative autonomy, theoretical integration, epistemological affinities, and in the end it is an imperative “stemming from the evolution of science itself” (Borrero, 2008, p. 267). Recently, Uribe-Mallarino (2012) in her book entitled “Interdisciplinariety in today’s university: reflections and case studies” [“La Interdisciplinariedad en la Universidad Contemporánea: reflexiones y estudios de caso”], affirms that interdisciplinariety is internationally defined around concepts such as collaboration, hybridation, complexity, integration, transversality, and problem solving.