Interdisciplinarity Study Group
Meeting at 5.30pm on 13th February 2003
1-19 Torrington Place, Rm G12.
Robert Biel, Hasok Chang, Adrian Chown, Helen Glanville, Richard Meakin
and Stephen Rowland were present.
We welcomed Hasok Chang, from Science and Technology Studies, to the
group. Much of the discussion about the nature of interdisciplinarity arose in
connection with a paper Hasok wrote (Chang, H (1999) History and
Philosophy of Science as a Continuation of Science by Other Means, Science
and Education 413-425). The discussion hinged around the question of
whether the history (or philosophy) of science is a form of history or a form of
science, or some interdisciplinary variation. His paper argues that the
philosopher of science has the task of addressing scientific questions which
scientists take for granted in order to get on with their scientific work. Hasok
observed that scientists tend to see the nature of his work as being
philosophy (or history), whereas philosophers (or historians) view the same
work as being a kind of science.
Similar questions arise for the history of art and medical humanities. However
we view the hybrid discipline (or interdiscipline), disciplinary boundaries are
certainly fuzzy. As Robert Biel pointed out, contestation takes place not only
between different disciplines - in terms of their methods and assumptions - but
also within disciplines. Indeed, some disciplines appear to be understood as
much in terms of the contestation within them as the shared methods and
assumptions.
(In relation to this issue Stephen offered to recirculate his early draft paper Interdisciplinarity: A site of contestation.)
Helen observed that it is impossible to perceive something in two different
ways at the same time. Is the implication of this that one can only work from
one discipline at a time: that they are in some way mutually exclusive?
Perhaps one can gain some understanding of interdisciplinary work by
considering people's reasons for wanting to engage in this way. We thus
discussed our personal reasons for being attracted to interdisciplinary work.
Among the answers we came up with:
'because it defies description'
'because it allows us to retreat from different disciplines'
'in order to join in different cultural/social groups'
'in order to produce synergistic outcomes, where the sum of understandings is
greater than the parts'
'out of a feeling of dissatisfaction with our discipline'
'as a result of rejection by the discipline'
'because I like solving real problems which inevitably involve more than one
discipline'
'out of an ability to, or an enjoyment of, living with uncertainty'
'out of a lack of ability in the original discipline'!
These different motives were suggestive of the different characteristics (and
criticisms!) of working in an interdisciplinary environment.
In relation to the issue of interdisciplinary work for problem solving, two
different metaphors were suggested for describing how the different
disciplines bear upon the problem:
1. the problem is 'split down' into different aspects for the constituent
disciplines;
2. The problem is approached 'from different perspectives' offered by the
different disciplines.
The two metaphors suggest quite different uderstandings of the relationship
between the disciplines and the problem. Stephen suggested that the first
might be thought of as multidisciplinary work; the second as interdisciplinary
work. It may be interesting to consider the implication (and the limitations) of
these metaphors.
The group decided to meet again in the same place at 5.30pm on Monday
28th April 2003.
List of Participants
Robert Biel
Hasok Chang
Adrian Chown
Stephen Gage
Helen Glanville
Cecil Helman
Brian Hurwitz
Tim Mathews
Richard Meakin
Arthur Miller
Stephen Rowland
Rebecca Spang
Development Planning Unit
r.biel@ucl.ac.uk
Science and Technology Studies h.chang@ucl.ac.uk
Ed. and Prof.Development
a.chown@ucl.ac.uk
The Bartlett
s.gage@ucl.ac.uk
History of Art
h.glanville@ucl.ac.uk
Primary Care & Pop. Sc.
c.helman@pcps.ucl.ac.uk
English (King's College)
brian.hurwitz@kcl.ac.uk
French
t.mathews@ucl.ac.uk
Primary Care & Pop. Sc. r.meakin@pcps.ucl.ac.uk
richard@birchbrook-house.fsnet.co.uk
Science and Technology Studies a.miller@ucl.ac.uk
Ed. and Prof.Development
s.rowland@ucl.ac.uk
History
r.spang@ucl.ac.uk
Stephen Rowland, Feb 03