Professional paper
Epistemology of interdisciplinarity
Mihovil Gotal
orcid.org/0000-0001-5711-6985
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In this article the author analyses the concept of interdisciplinarity as
a specific form of scientific approach which integrates different forms of knowledge from traditional academic disciplines. Different characteristics are discussed by which disciplines differ from one another. Then, we present the explications of different forms of scientific approaches with a special emphasis on the differences between them which depend on the way of interconnecting
the disciplines. In detail we discuss the basic characteristics which define the interdisciplinarity, specifically different forms of its manifestation which differ regarding the mode and purpose
of specific research. In the final part of this article we present some factors which we recognize as the causers of development and popularization of interdisciplinarity (great scientific discoveries, globalization processes and development of applied sciences), but
also some criticism of this scientific approach.
Keywords
academic discipline; epistemology; interdisciplinarity; methodology; multidisciplinarity; science; transdisciplinarity
Hrčak ID:
105813
URI
Publication date:
1.5.2013.
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