INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES IN THE HUMANITIES (IRANIAN JOURNAL OF CULTURAL RESEARCH)
Year:2009 | Volume:1 | Issue:1|Papers Count:10

Complexity of interdisciplinary concept, which is a result of complex nature of sciences and various theories, calls for more scrutiny on quality, background as well as concepts and approaches related to this issue. Therefore, a better understanding of interdisciplinary courses requires exploration of the concept of interdisciplinary studies which constitute the first part of this paper. In fact, many theorysts maintain that short comings of interdisciplinary studies as well as complexity of issues facing human society and paradigm changes in human society which pave the way for transition from an industrial to a knowledge- based society, are major issues related to interdisciplinary courses which should be explored.The second part of this paper stresses on conceptualizations regarding interdisciplinary courses which have been written on the basis of different approaches including, inter alia, alternating, normative, and epistemological approaches which lead to different conceptualizations on interdisciplinary courses. Despite those differences in conceptualization on interdisciplinary courses, they have a common point: the necessity of attending to interdisciplinary studies in order to solve complex human problems. Genealogy and Background studies, which can play a great role in better understanding of interdisciplinary courses and differentiate them from pre-disciplinary studies, focus on factors affecting developments in this scientific area which includes typology of interdisciplinary courses.

Despite its quantitative growth, higher education system is unable to solve social problems. The Ministry of Science, Research and Technology has taken many decisions to review curricula, but they have not been useful and we still teach educational courses in the traditional way. Identifying reasons behind failure of plans, trying to reach a common understanding of interdisciplinary subjects, correcting understanding of educational courses and preparing teachers and professors to look at specialized courses in a systematic way while avoiding of concentration on a single specialty, are inevitable solutions for social problems. In this study, theoretical basis of interdisciplinary knowledge has been examined by emphasis on educational sciences and its various aspects as seen by educational experts.

Interdisciplinary studies were considered necessary after revelations about weaknesses and shortcomings of specialization as well as ramifications in sciences. This idea puts emphasis on integration of sciences in such fields as philosophy, natural sciences, mathematical sciences, and humanities. Emergence of interdisciplinary courses is, on the one hand, rooted in objective realities and emergence of separate, but multifaceted phenomena which called for an interdisciplinary approach to problems and their solutions as well as a general and inclusive measure. On the other hand, they stem from theoretical contentions and critique of positivistic scientific methods. Interdisciplinary studies both do away with limitations and shortcomings of specialistic studies, and provide new capacities and research facilities for different fields of science.

Philosophers have divided philosophy into general and special categories and believe that special philosophy deals with components of life. The selected viewpoint as to the quality of philosophy is that it deals with different features of human self. This definition allows us to discuss, on a wide scale, all kinds of combined philosophies that attend to realities. One of those combined philosophies is the philosophy combined with sciences with a historical and logical approach, which is also known as gate-keeping theory, which allows the researcher to take a secondary approach to external questions of sciences and discover the relationship between different scientific disciplines. That discovery not only answers questions related to combined philosophy and external scientific questions, but also turns into the most important method for discovery and establishment of interdisciplinary sciences, especially if we considered science as a common axis to which certain rules and features apply.This paper, tries to first provide a definition of choice for the modem Islamic knowledge as well as the quality and types of combined philosophy and a standard theory to claim that a combined philosophical approach to sciences or gate-keeping theory is the most important method to discover interdisciplinary sciences and that we must not stop at interdisciplinary sciences that have been thus far discovered.

This study aims to review the nature of knowledge and analyze necessity of interdisciplinary studies from the viewpoint of Derrida, who represents postmodern philosophy, to compare credibility of his thoughts with some prominent philosophers of science. Derrida maintained that such fields as philosophy, mathematics and logics have been introduced in the West as rational fields while literature, poetry, and arts have been considered irrational and marginalized. He concludes that various fields of knowledge such as philosophy, literature and even modem sciences are manifestations of different linguistic systems and since language is metaphorical, interpretational, historical, and changeable, different fields of knowledge do not reflect the realities, but are metaphorical. Therefore, none of them is superior to others, but they are intermingled and there is no sharp line among them. A review of ideas of such philosophers as Cohen, la Catouche, and Feierabend would confirm post modem claims of Derrida. In view of research results; designing knowledge on the basis of horizontal, rather than vertical, relations; interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary design; and designing knowledge based on subjects rather than courses has been proposed to specialists and policymakers.

Research process is very sensitive and painstaking; the least deviation in research process may cause deviation in scientific findings and make clarification of truth difficult. Every researcher is, at least, facing three glass barriers resulting from terminology, method and subject of research which face them with a form of paradigmatic or semi-paradigmatic approach to research process.One way to cross those invisible barriers is to adopt a linguistic approach to interdisciplinary sciences which will make comparison, setting priority of subjects, integration of methods, and use of research terminology possible and also to design a macro system to organize knowledge, pave the way for better guidance of individual interests, talents and social needs to facilitate their reflection in scientific works.

When requisites of interdisciplinary studies are discussed from a linguistic angle, this non-prescribed field of science is expected to come up with models to describe different aspects of relationship among scientific languages, so that requisites could be deduced under prescribed conditions. According to existing ideas in different fields of human sciences about the relationship between language and thought, expansion of inter language relations due to contacts among different fields of science is a tool to develop thought and new horizons which are offered by those sciences. This will show the sensitive role of language in relation to sciences, on the one hand, while on the other hand, intensifying concerns that may result from abnormalities in inter-language relations. Attention to some aspects of scientific language like differentiation between objective and historical aspects is essential for regulation of these relations and considering historical concepts as being objective or the opposite, can have destructive effects on interdisciplinary relations. Terminologies that are affected by other sciences which can be evaluated through a historical linguistic approach will be only worrisome when origins of those terms cannot be realized correctly or they are mixed or considered synonymous with other terms. Some infrastructural studies such as finding about linguistic genealogy of scientific languages as well as some case studies on genealogical, typological, and contact relations among languages can ensure more usefulness of interdisciplinary studies. Moreover, it seems that development of some study models may lead to emergence of methods to study how scientific courses can be linked and mechanism through which concepts are exchanged among them.