Philosophy of Interdisciplinarity

[Wolfgang A. Korzen]

International Workshop, September 28-29, 2009

Since the early 1970s, “interdisciplinarity” has become a
popular label ascribed to innumerable research programs.
Interdisciplinarity is driven by expected benefits of solving
problems collaboratively across the boundaries of traditional
disciplines and, from a different perspective, by ethical
and societal problems at the intersection of science,
technology and society. These problems led to the establishment
of technology assessment, global change studies and
sustainability research. There is a broad practice of interdisciplinary
activities all over the globe. Interdisciplinarity
projects are supported, funded, and evaluated as a matter of
course.

There are, however, also many conceptual and practical
problems with interdisciplinary research. We believe that
these problems are ripe for the development of a
“philosophy of interdisciplinarity.” To develop such a philosophy
of interdisciplinarity in the traditions of philosophy
of science and philosophy of technology, we invite you to a
small but intense workshop that focuses on the discussion of
questions such as:

What exactly is the meaning of “interdisciplinary research”
in contrast to “disciplinary research”? How to demarcate
interdisciplinary from disciplinary research, theories, and
methodologies?
What are the problems of interdisciplinarity that can be addressed
from a philosophical point of view, and what
might be specifically philosophical solutions of these
problems?
Are there significant differences between
“interdisciplinarity,” “transdisciplinarity,” “crossdisciplinarity,”
“post-disciplinarity,” and similar concepts?
Would one of these concepts be better suited—
with regard to specific purposes—than the traditional
one of interdisciplinarity?
How to measure degrees of interdisciplinarity?
How to evaluate the quality of interdisciplinary research?
What could be a good indicator of successful interdisciplinarity?
How can we secure the quality of interdisciplinary research
projects?
How to deal with conflicts that are based on varying normative
standards as they are developed in traditional scientific
disciplines, conflicts that result, for example, from
disagreements about what counts as a problem, what
counts as a justification of a scientific claim, or what
counts as an acceptable method?
Are there disciplinary differences regarding the representation
of knowledge and the framing of problems, and how
to deal with them if they exist?
Do we need an interdisciplinary “meta-language” to improve
communication, or how to translate between disciplinary
languages?
Is disciplinary research determined by values that could
cause conflicts in interdisciplinary settings?
How could a theory of interdisciplinarity look like?

The purpose of the workshop is both to provide an opportunity
for intensive discussion and to initiate a long-term collaboration
across the Atlantic. Our goal is to form an international
network of scholars working in interdisciplinary
contexts and/or philosophy. The workshop will be hosted by
the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology
in Atlanta, USA. Registration details are yet to be
arranged.

We expect approximately 12-15 short talks in an open discussion
structure on topics like the ones listed above. We
intend to publish a book based on revised versions of the
talks given. This book is supposed to provide the foundations
of a philosophy of interdisciplinarity. It should be a
valuable contribution to philosophy of science, sociology of
science, research and technology studies, cognitive science,
public policy, evaluation studies, and others.

If you are interested in presenting a paper (or just participating), or if you want
to sign up for an e-mail list “interdisciplinarity network,” please contact:

Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Philosophy of Science and Technology Program (PST), School of Public Policy,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA ([e-mail]), or
Jan C. Schmidt, Unit of Social, Cultural, and Technology Studies, Darmstadt University of Applied
Sciences, Germany ([e-mail]), or
Alan Porter, Technology Policy and Assessment Center (TPAC), School of Public Policy,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA ([e-mail]).

Please forward this invitation to colleagues who might be interested.



http://philosophy.gatech.edu/Workshop-Interdisciplinarity_Sept09.pdf