Abstract
We have heard frequent calls in recent years from academic administrators for more interdisciplinary research.1 Such calls are often accompanied by criticisms of the narrowness and isolation of established academic disciplines. Behind these calls seems to lie the uncritical assumption that being interdisciplinary is itself a virtue. This attitude is well described by Gusdorf (1977):
“Interdisciplinarity is a very topical subject, as can be seen from the frequency with which the word appears in philosophical debate and academic discussion. Everyone invokes, interdisciplinarity; no one dares say a word against it. Its success is all the more remarkable in that even those who advocate this new image of knowledge would find it hard to define. The appeal to interdiscplinarity is seen as a kind of epistemological panacea, designed to cure all the ills the scientific consciousness of our age is heir to” (580).
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Bechtel, W. (1986). The Nature of Scientific Integration. In: Bechtel, W. (eds) Integrating Scientific Disciplines. Science and Philosophy, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9435-1_1
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