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Interdisciplinarity is the act of drawing from two or more academic disciplines and integrating their insights to work together in pursuit of a common goal. "Interdisciplinary Studies", as they are called, use interdisciplinarity to develop a greater understanding of a problem that is too complex or wide-ranging (i.e. AIDS pandemic, global warming) to be dealt with using the knowledge and methodology of just one discipline. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Contents   Overviews   Academia   Topics   Basic topics   Glossaries   Portals   Categories // This is a list of academic disciplines. ... Look up integration in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Interdisciplinarity. ... For other uses, see AIDS (disambiguation). ... This article is about large epidemics. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1850 to 2006 Mean surface temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans in recent decades and the projected...

Interdisciplinary programs sometimes arise from a shared conviction that the traditional disciplines are unable or unwilling to address an important problem. For example, social science disciplines such as anthropology and sociology paid little attention to the social analysis of technology throughout most of the twentieth century. As a result, many social scientists with interests in technology have joined science and technology studies programs, which are typically staffed by scholars drawn from numerous disciplines (including anthropology, history, philosophy, sociology, and women's studies). They may also arise from new research developments, such as nanotechnology, which cannot be addressed without combining the approaches of two or more disciplines. Examples include quantum information processing, which amalgamates elements of quantum physics and computer science, and bioinformatics, which combines molecular biology with computer science. In a sense, those who pursue Interdisciplinary Studies degrees or practice interdisciplinarity in their lives are seen as pioneers (and even risk-takers) at the cutting edge of scholarship, science, and technology. In this way, interdisciplinarians are able to acknowledge and combat the present and future problems of humanity. Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge) is an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction. ... By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the surface of the Earth for the first time and explore space. ... Science and technology studies (STS) is the study of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological innovation, and how these in turn affect society, politics, and culture. ... Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ... History studies time in human terms. ... The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge) is an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Buckminsterfullerene C60, also known as the buckyball, is the simplest of the carbon structures known as fullerenes. ... Quantum information processing is concerned with what we can and cannot do with quantum information. ... Fig. ... Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ... Map of the human X chromosome (from the NCBI website). ... Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. ...

At another level, interdisciplinarity is seen as a remedy to the intellectually deadening effects of excessive specialization. On some views, however, interdisciplinarity is entirely indebted to those who specialize in one field of study--that without specialists, interdisciplinarians would have no information and no leading experts to consult. Others place the focus of interdisciplinarity on the need to transcend disciplines, viewing excessive specialization as problematic both epistemologically and politically. When interdisciplinary collaboration or research results in new solutions to problems, much information is given back to the various disciplines involved. Therefore, both disciplinarians and interdisciplinarians must work complementary to each other in order to solve problems.

However, French sociologist and interdisciplinary scholar, Mattei Dogan has criticized the widely held view that interdisciplinarity, despite its etymology, involves merging two traditional disciplines. As demonstrated in his article “The New Social Sciences: Cracks in the Disciplinary Walls,” interdisciplinary research does not, in fact, entail crossing whole disciplines, but in crossing specialties. In Dogan’s view, by attempting to cross disciplines so vast as political science and sociology, for example, the research can only become lost in an ocean of literature. In this sense, any researcher seeking to cross whole disciplines is doomed from the outset. For him, the true meaning of interdisciplinarity lies in crossing specialties within disciplines, or the hybridization of disciplinary fragments (see below: hybridization of specialties).

Varieties

There are several types of inquiry that may erroneously be referred to as "interdisciplinarity." Many of the following descriptions in this section are based on Becoming Interdisciplinary: An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies by Tanya Augsburg of Arizona State University.

Interdisciplinarity

In a sense, interdisciplinarity involves attacking a subject from various angles and methods, eventually cutting across disciplines and forming a new method for felicitous understanding of the subject. A common goal (understanding) unites the different methods and acknowledges an entire subject or problem, even if it spreads to other disciplines.

Interdisciplinarity as the term is most often used in educational circles occurs when researchers from two or more disciplines pool their approaches and modify them so that they are better suited to the problem at hand, including the case of the team-taught course where students are required to understand how a given subject (for example, land use) may appear differently when examined by different disciplines (e.g., biology, geography, and economics). Land use is the pattern of construction and activity land is used for. ... Biology studies the variety of life (clockwise from top-left) E. coli, tree fern, gazelle, Goliath beetle Biology (from Greek: βίος, bio, life; and λόγος, logos, knowledge), also referred to as the biological sciences, is the study of living organisms utilizing the scientific method. ... ‹ The template below is being considered for deletion. ...

Interdisciplinarity is a typical trait of holistic approaches in science and other fields. Not all those who are committed to interdisciplinarity consider themselves holists, however, as they may not embrace the connotations of the term. Whole redirects here. ...

Multidisciplinarity

Multidisciplinarity examines a given subject using the methods of multiple disciplines. This approach is related to the think tank model, where the objective is likely to be the solution of an immediate problem, rather than exploration of disciplinary perspectives. Multidisciplinarity is a non-integrative mixture of disciplines in that each discipline retains its methodologies and assumptions without change or development from other disciplines within the multidisciplinary relationship. ... This article is about the institution. ...

Transdisciplinarity

The term "transdisciplinary," while frequently used, may not yet have a stable, consensus meaning. Usage suggests that a transdisciplinary approach dissolves boundaries between disciplines. Most uses of the term suggest a deliberate and intentionally scandalous or transgressive violation of disciplinary rules, for the purpose of achieving new insight, or of expanding the discipline's resources. An example of such usage appears in the Yearbook for the for the Theory and History of Architecture, where the term is specifically distinguished from "interdisciplinary" approaches. The term may also be used to describe an intellectual aspect of postmodernism, the violation of disciplinary canons for the purpose of unsettling existing political configurations, as in "The life cycle of a postmodern paradigm: social ecology as a case study in second-order cybernetics" (R. Woog and B. Hodge, Cybernetics & Human Knowing, Volume 7, Number 4, 2000 , pp. 27-41(15) Transdisciplinary refers to an entity (usually a person) having training in two or more disparate fields of inquiry. ... Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ...

Crossdisciplinarity

Crossdisciplinarity describes a method that crosses disciplinary boundaries but does so from a foreign angle and with no cooperation. Basically, crossdisciplinary approaches attempt to explain a subject in the terms of a foreign method. Some good examples of such interaction would be describing the physics of music or the politics of literature. Crossdisciplinarity describes any method, project and research activity that examines a subject outside the scope of its own discipline without cooperation or integration from other relevant disciplines. ... This is a discussion of a present category of science. ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ...

Non-disciplinarity

Finally, there is "non-disciplinarity," which differs from dilettantism mainly in that it is a conscious and deliberate rather than ignorant disregard of the expectation that one should remain within the subject matter and methodology of a defined discipline; the approach may be taken by those working from a postmodern model of bricolage, and may proceed from subversive intent or from an ambition to pursue larger questions. Look up Bricolage in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Hybridization of Specialties Hybridization occurs when sub-domains within disciplines intersect giving rise to, for example, fields such as political economy, social ecology, social psychology, historical sociology, etc. But, the hybridization process does not stop there as “hybrids beget further hybrids” (Dogan, “The New Social Sciences: Cracks in the Disciplinary Walls”), which is especially true in the natural sciences since they have reached relatively high degrees of fragmentation and specialization. The following breakdown illustrates a second generation hybrid: physiology begat endocrinology and neurophysiology, which in turn begat neuroendocrinology.

Barriers

Because most participants in interdisciplinary ventures were trained in traditional disciplines, they must learn to appreciate differing perspectives and approaches. For example, a discipline that places more emphasis on quantitative "rigor" may produce practitioners who think of themselves (and their discipline) as "more scientific" than others; in turn, colleagues in "softer" disciplines may associate quantitative approaches with an inability to grasp the broader dimensions of a problem. An interdisciplinary program may not succeed if its members remain stuck in their disciplines (and in disciplinary attitudes).

From the disciplinary perspective, much interdisciplinary work may be seen as "soft," lacking in rigor, or ideologically motivated; these beliefs place barriers in the career paths of those who choose interdisciplinary work. For example, interdisciplinary grant applications are often refereed by peer reviewers drawn from established disciplines; not surprisingly, interdisciplinary researchers may experience difficulty getting funding for their research. In addition, untenured researchers know that, when they seek promotion and tenure, it is likely that some of the evaluators will lack commitment to interdisciplinarity. They may fear that making a commitment to interdisciplinary research will increase the risk of being denied tenure. Peer review (known as refereeing in some academic fields) is a scholarly process used in the publication of manuscripts and in the awarding of funding for research. ... This is a list of academic disciplines (and academic fields). ... A promotion is the advancement of rank or position in an organizational hierarchy system. ... Look up tenure in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Interdisciplinary programs may fail if they are not given sufficient autonomy. For example, it is a common practice to recruit new interdisciplinary faculty to a joint appointment, with responsibilities in both an interdisciplinary program (such as women's studies) and a traditional discipline (such as history). If the traditional discipline makes the tenure decisions, new interdisciplinary faculty will be hesitant to commit themselves fully to interdisciplinary work. Other barriers include the generally disciplinary orientation of most scholarly journals, leading to the perception, if not the fact, that interdisciplinary research is hard to publish. In addition, since traditional budgetary practices at most universities channel resources through the disciplines, it becomes difficult to account for a given scholar or teacher's salary and time. During periods of budgetary retraction, the natural tendency to serve the primary constituency (i.e., students majoring in the discipline) makes resources scarce for teaching and research comparatively far from the center of the discipline as traditionally understood. For these same reasons, the introduction of new interdisciplinary programs is often perceived as a competition for diminishing funds, and may for this reason meet resistance. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... History studies time in human terms. ...

Due to these and other barriers, interdisciplinary research areas are strongly motivated to become disciplines themselves. If they succeed, they can establish their own research funding programs and make their own tenure and promotion decisions. In so doing, they lower the risk of entry. Examples of former interdisciplinary research areas that have become disciplines include neuroscience, biochemistry and biomedical engineering. These new fields are occasionally referred to as "interdisciplines." Drawing of the cells in the chicken cerebellum by S. Ramón y Cajal Neuroscience is a field that is devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. ... Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes and transformations in living organisms. ... The AbioCor artificial heart, an example of a biomedical engineering application of mechanical engineering with biocompatible materials for Cardiothoracic Surgery using an artificial organ. ...

New programs

Interdisciplinary Studies seek to synthesize broad perspectives, knowledge, skills, interconnections, and epistemology to resolve holistically a diverse set of real-world problems. Interdisciplinary programs may be founded in order to facilitate the study of subjects which have some coherence, but which cannot be adequately understood from a single disciplinary perspective (for example, Women's Studies or Medieval Studies). More rarely, and at a more advanced level, interdisciplinarity may itself become the focus of study, in a critique of institutionalized disciplines' ways of segmenting knowledge. Perhaps the most common complaint regarding interdisciplinary programs is the lack of synthesis -- that is, students are provided with multiple disciplinary perspectives, but given insufficient guidance in resolving the conflicts and achieving a coherent view of the subject. Critics of interdisciplinary programs feel that the ambition is simply unrealistic, given the knowledge and intellectual maturity of all but the exceptional undergraduate; some defenders concede the difficulty, but insist that cultivating interdisciplinarity as a habit of mind, even at that level, is both possible and essential to the education of informed and engaged citizens and leaders capable of analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information from multiple sources in order to render reasoned decisions. Perspective in theory of cognition is the choice of a context or a reference (or the result of this choice) from which to sense, categorize, measure or codify experience, cohesively forming a coherent belief, typically for comparing with another. ... It has been suggested that Meta-epistemology be merged into this article or section. ... Whole redirects here. ... The real world is a colloquial term for the physical reality of everyday life which everyone experiences (see human condition). ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Medievalism divides into both serious academic study of the medieval world and also leisure-time romanticism about that world. ...

Research across the curriculum

The Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC) has been supporting interdisciplinary research and teaching since it was established in 1949. Its first interdiscplinary research unit was the School of Community and Regional Planning, opened in 1951. Professor William Rees developed the ecological footprint analysis tool here in 1992. In October 2005, the most recent research unit, the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD) - an interdisciplinary research centre for spinal cord injury recovery - joined the faculty. William Rees (born December 18, 1943), is a professor at the University of British Columbia and former director of the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at UBC. Rees has taught at the University of British Columbia since 1969-70. ... Ecological footprint (EF) analysis measures human demand on nature. ...

In October 2006, UBC's Senate approved the creation of a new College for Interdisciplinary Studies, effective January 1, 2007. The 35 interdisciplinary research units, two Colleges, and twelve interdisciplinary programs previously within the Faculty of Graduate Studies moved to the College, and the mandate was broadened to include supporting interdisciplinarity across the entire university at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Almost all of the 93 current faculty members in the College are jointly or cross-appointed between a research unit within the College and at least one other research unit, department, or faculty. The subject of this article may not satisfy the notability guideline or one of the following guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. ...

Thematic programs

Fairhaven College in Bellingham, Washington, was the first college to provide thematic interdisciplinary programs. Since opening its doors in 1967, Fairhaven's entire curriculum has been taught through interdisciplinary studies. Fairhaven College is an interdisciplinary liberal arts college at Western Washington University. ...

Student designed focus

The School of Interdisciplinary Studies, also known as the Western College Program, was created in 1974 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The program allowed students to take control of their educational path by designing their own major, incorporating various areas of study at Miami University to form an interdisciplinary focus. Despite an outstanding record of student accomplishments in the program, it was closed by the Board of Trustees effective June 2008. , This article is about the university in Oxford, Ohio. ...

Environment and interdisciplinary practice

Universities worldwide have recognized that, in order to successfully facilitate interdisciplinarity, they must adopt new environments and practices. For example, a grass-roots effort by faculty and students at Stanford University resulted in a new program called Bio-X, which explores the intersections among biology, computer science, medicine, and engineering. The program is housed in the Clark Center, which opened in 2003. Situated along the pathways between the university and the medical center, the Clark Center is designed to both express and facilitate the concept of interdisciplinarity. Each lab is equipped with at least two scientists from each of the participating disciplines, but they are by no means fixed: for example, walls can be moved (or eliminated), and all equipment is on wheels. The entire building is designed to facilitate interdisciplinary communication and to accommodate new, rapid, and unexpected growth as it occurs. “Stanford” redirects here. ... Stanford University Bio-X Initiative is part of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California, adjacent to Palo Alto and Menlo Park. ... A view of the Clark Center at night The James H. Clark Center (also abbreviated to the Clark Center) at Stanford University is a building, completed in 2003, that houses interdisciplinary research in the biological sciences. ...

Interdisciplinary Gen. Ed.

Truman State University, a liberal arts university in Kirksville, Missouri, has recently taken another approach to interdisciplinarity. A new General Education requirement sees that all students take at least one interdisciplinary course before graduation. The university has also developed a process by which students accepted to the interdisciplinary studies major program may design their own majors with the help of a faculty mentor. The major requires that students take two newly created courses about interdisciplinarity in addition to their regular coursework: an introductory course to interdisciplinary studies (focusing on the theory of interdisciplinarity) and a senior capstone (focusing on synthesis/praxis), while the rest of the student's coursework consists of classes in several of the different disciplinary programs. To help ensure that they are serious about their interdiscipinary major, Truman students are required to take 50 credit hours after the acceptance of their major as well as maintain a GPA of 2.8. The first class of IDSM majors at the school were: Rhetoric and Power, Philosophy in Literature, and Gender in Politics, though recently Biochemistry, Medieval Studies, East Asian studies, and Environmental Studies were proposed. Ten interdisciplinary minors are also available to the student body. However, more majors will undoubtedly follow as students continue to transcend the traditional academic disciplines. Truman is also taking a revolutionary step by combining the principle of interdisciplinarity with the "Four Powerful Pedagogies". This combination allows IDSM undergraduates not only to learn how to think interdisciplinarily but also to apply those principles through internships, research, service learning and study abroad experiences. Truman State University is a public liberal arts and sciences university in the U.S. state of Missouri. ... In the history of education, the seven liberal arts comprise two groups of studies, the trivium and the quadrivium. ... Kirksville is a city located in Adair County, Missouri. ... Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes and transformations in living organisms. ... Kekeke. ... Environmental studies is the systematic study of human interaction with their environment. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the concept. ... Studying abroad is the act of a student pursuing educational opportunities in a foreign country. ...

Research and Ph.D. programs

Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, is a research intensive university with a rapidly growing Interdisciplinary PhD program, now at 70 students. The demographics of this group is dramatically different from all of the other PhD programs on campus, with mature individuals designing their own programs to respond to individual career goals in industry, government and academic.

Learning community and clusters

Increasingly, universities are consciously incorporating elements of interdisciplinarity into their curricula -- within particular courses, especially as part of general education requirements, or by requiring cognate fields in the academic major, and through such devices as the Learning Community, or the "clusters" system at Washington University in St. Louis. General Education Requirements are classes that fulfill the basic curricula for a body of higher education. ... An academic major, major concentration, concentration, or simply major is a mainly U.S. and Canadian term for a college or university students main field of specialization during his or her undergraduate studies. ... A learning community is a group of people who share common values and beliefs, are actively engaged in learning together from each other. ... “Washington University” redirects here. ...

Historical examples

There are many examples of when a particular idea, almost on the same period, arises in different disciplines. One case is the shift from the approach of focusing on "specialized segments of attention" (adopting one particular perspective), to the idea of "instant sensory awareness of the whole", an attention to the "total field", a "sense of the whole pattern, of form and function as a unity", an "integral idea of structure and configuration". This has happened in painting (with cubism), physics, poetry, communication and educational theory. According to Marshall McLuhan, this paradigm shift was due to the passage from an era shaped by mechanization, which brought sequentiality, to the era shaped by the instant speed of electricity, which brought simultaneity.^[1] Woman with a guitar by Georges Braque, 1913 Cubist villa in Prague, Czech Republic Cubist house in Prague, Czech Republic Cubist House of the Black Madonna, Prague, Czech Republic Cubism was a 20th century art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music and literature. ... Education theory is the theory or the philosophy of the purpose, application and interpretation of education and learning. ... “McLuhan” redirects here. ... Paradigm shift is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. ... Mechanization is the use of machines to replace manual labour or animals and can also refer to the use of powered machinery to help a human operator in some task. ...

Further reading

• Newell, W.H. (2001). A theory of interdisciplinary studies. Issues in Integrative Studies, 19, 1-25. Online text
• Klein, Julie Thompson (1996) Crossing Boundaries: Knowledge, Disciplinarities, and Interdisciplinarities (University Press of Virginia)
• Peter Weingart and Nico Stehr, eds. 2000. Practicing Interdisciplinarity (University of Toronto Press)

References

“McLuhan” redirects here. ... Understanding Media is a book by Marshall McLuhan. ...

See also

• Multidisciplinarity

Multidisciplinarity is a non-integrative mixture of disciplines in that each discipline retains its methodologies and assumptions without change or development from other disciplines within the multidisciplinary relationship. ...

External links

• Labyrinthe. Atelier interdisciplinaire (a journal in French), with a recent special issue on La Fin des Disciplines?
• an article about interdisciplinary modeling in French with a English abstract : http://www.afscet.asso.fr/resSystemica/V4-2004/entete-2004.html
• Dieter Wolf, [2] Unity of Knowledge. The unity of knowledge An Interdisciplinary Project