INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES IN THE HUMANITIES (IRANIAN JOURNAL OF CULTURAL RESEARCH)
Year:2009 | Volume:1 | Issue:2|Papers Count:8

Planning is one of the human occupations in his social life but its conception has been changed along with social changes. Today University planning is facing to crisis regarding its complex situation; so liner approach in planning can't answer to the University systems reform and perception. In the most of "developing countries", imitation approach from the industrial countries, push aside them based on variables which has been introduce and arise from their specific and unique situation. The important thing is planning thought which attend to Past, present and future dynamic communication in University situations. If until now future was an important thing for the planning, after this, dialectic of past, present and future will be determine in planning. Planning thought with emphasize on University dynamic realities based on their background profit from different science and techniques for planning in University development therefore the planning for the University development has been situated in the interdisciplinary area. This article, deliberate on University complex systems and critique liner approach in higher education and Universities planning; so, in this study planning thought is examining as an interdisciplinary and creative issue in the development planning of University.

Social problems which threaten future life of human beings and capacities of modem technologies in challenging those problems have increased the need to launch interdisciplinary courses. During the past 40 years, such courses have been very useful for human societies and researchers have come up with new methods to combine scientific interest with large-scale skills. Therefore, faculty members and students have been attracted to such courses. This paper will study conceptual nature of interdisciplinary courses and explains some relevant experiences as well as their fortes and weaknesses. In conclusion, proposals will be offered for launching interdisciplinary courses.

Many political scientists believe that political studies are not merely possible on the basis of a single discipline. Therefore, intra-disciplinary (using a collection of specialties in political sciences like comparative politics, political theory, international relations and so on) as well as interdisciplinary studies (not only political sciences, but other fields such as economics, law, international relations…) are also needed. For this reason, universities of different countries like Canada have tried to prepare their students to understand complexities of the globalization age and get suitable jobs by promoting interdisciplinary approach. This paper aims to understand definition of interdisciplinary approach in Canadian universities and the method of its implementation by emphasis on political sciences. The main question is how interdisciplinary approach has been implemented in the Canadian universities by emphasis on political sciences.

According to the speedy progress of science and technology during the past years, different branches of science are more dispersed. As a result, there are fewer connections between them in the whole structure of science. On the other hand, solving complicated problems in the realms of science and technology needs more comprehensive perspectives. During the past years, considerable attentions have been paid to interdisciplinary studies, and according to the corresponding needs, it has also been extended to interdisciplinary education. However, it is not an easy task to apply the concept of interdisciplinarity to various disciplines having different systems. This uncommon situation has made it subject of controversial debates. In other words, contrary to common belief that interdisciplinarity is merely based on the process of mixing different disciplines, it is a complicated issue needing special considerations. The first step is to know different aspects of interdisciplinarity and then analyzing the subject under consideration. In the present paper, the basic concepts of interdisciplinary are described by introducing its common terminology. Furthermore, some essential requirements for performing interdisciplinary programs (in higher education level) are discussed based on solid arguments are used.

Interdisciplinary activities are in vogue and are used in institutional fields of "knowledge" and organizational gatherings for "education" and are creditable as a new method for knowledge production and educational policymaking. Despite sporadic resistance, "interdisciplinary activities" is not a focus of attention for institutions producing and promoting knowledge as well as organizational and social entities concerned with education. However, they are practically facing complex obstacles, serious challenges and criticism.This descriptive-analytical paper which emphasizes on interdisciplinary higher education, maintains that the most important obstacles and challenges faced by interdisciplinary activities in the past three decades can be divided into "organizational", "professional", and "cultural" obstacles. In conclusion, special obstacles and challenges to interdisciplinary programs in humanities have been explained.

Different developments including technological growth and increased human problems has made interdisciplinary cooperation inevitable. On the other hand, traditional attitude to academic fields and specialization has prevented higher education from creating necessary capacities to in confront those developments and face new challenges. Therefore, one of the necessities of higher St Education is to foster interdisciplinary skills in both educational and research fields. This paper reviews concepts of educational courses and interdisciplinary in higher education with emphasis on the need to foster interdisciplinary thinking as prerequisite of all kinds of interdisciplinary activities. Then "issue-based learning" has been described because this new educational method enjoys many capacities to promote interdisciplinary skills. In conclusion, a special model of issue-based learning called "interdisciplinary problem solving model" has been briefly explained as an applied model for educational courses.

Curriculum has been a matter of interest to analytical philosophers. Hurst maintains that teaching is by nature an activity which may assume many forms. Analytical philosophers believe that educational and curriculum planning is done in a wrong way and the only logical reason for many educational programs is their cultural orientation. Presumptions about knowledge, forms of knowledge and internal relations among them should be taken into consideration. Analytical philosophers maintain that more attention should be paid to philosophical aspects and people should be encouraged to work more in this regard. This issue has been discussed in educational philosophy of London school of thought and by great philosophers of that school, especially Hurst, by delineating "forms of knowledge" theory. Hurst has classified forms of knowledge and while rejecting unity of knowledge, has paid attention to its very forms. He believes that human knowledge has forms which are logically distinct from one another. He mentions mathematics, physics, human sciences, history, religious sciences, literature, fine arts, and philosophy as seven forms of knowledge. The present paper aims to review philosophical fundaments of interdisciplinary curricula in higher education of "forms of knowledge" as seen by analytical philosophers through documentary analytical method.