Philosophy and Interdisciplinarity:
Reflecting on and Crossing Boundaries
Public Philosophy Network 2013 – Atlanta, GA
Saturday Morning Workshop
Interdisciplinarity has become a popular label ascribed to innumerable research programs. But there are many conceptual and practical problems with interdisciplinary research. This workshop will describe the efforts of the Philosophy of /as Interdisciplinarity Network (PIN) to articulate and resolve those problems and will open a space for discussing future efforts and collaborations between PIN and PPN. PIN fills a niche within the broad field of interdisciplinarity studies by combining two directions of activities. The first direction takes philosophical inquiry into problems regarding the practices and theories of interdisciplinary research in the style of traditional philosophy of science. The second direction initiates a new philosophical practice of engagement in the world — one that questions and overcomes the boundaries that have constituted philosophy as a discipline in the 20th century.
Below are some readings that lie in the background of our discussion:
- Hoffmann, Michael H. G., Jan C. Schmidt, Nancy Nersessian (2012). “Philosophy of and as Interdisciplinarity (Introduction to a special issue).” Synthese Online First: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11229-012-0214-8. DOI 10.1007/s11229-012-0214-8
- Andersen, Hanne, & Wagenknecht, Susann. (2012). Epistemic dependence in interdisciplinary groups. Synthese, Online First: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11229-012-0172-1. doi: DOI 10.1007/s11229-012-0172-1
- Frodeman, Robert. (2012). Philosophy dedisciplined. Synthese, Online First: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11229-012-0181-0. DOI 10.1007/s11229-012-0181-0
- Fuller, Steve. (2012). Deviant interdisciplinarity as philosophical practice: prolegomena to deep intellectual history. Synthese, Online First: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11229-012-0208-6. doi: DOI 10.1007/s11229-012-0208-6
- Holbrook, J. Britt. (2012). What is interdisciplinary communication? Reflections on the very idea of disciplinary integration. Synthese, Online First: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11229-012-0179-7. DOI 10.1007/s11229-012-0179-7
- O’Rourke, Michael, & Crowley, Stephen J. (2012). Philosophical intervention and cross-disciplinary science: the story of the Toolbox Project. Synthese, Online First: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11229-012-0175-y. DOI 10.1007/s11229-012-0175-y
- Tuana, Nancy. (2012). Embedding philosophers in the practices of science: bringing humanities to the sciences. Synthese, Online First: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-012-0171-2/. DOI 10.1007/s11229-012-0171-2