The Structure of Interdisciplinary Science (eBook)

Rolf Hvidtfeldt is a postdoctoral fellow at the Humanomics Research Centre, Aalborg University, Denmark. His research is mainly focused on the philosophies of science evaluation, scientific communication, and conflicts of perspective.

Series Editor’s Foreword 6
Preface 8
Contents 12
List of Figures 17
1: Introduction 18
The (Epistemic) Fundamentals of Interdisciplinarity 19
Interdisciplinarity Studies 22
My Alternative 22
Does Everybody Represent? 24
The Intermediate Layer 27
Tools, Algorithms, and Basic Assumptions 28
An Example 30
Why Engage in this Kind of Madness? 33
A Bit of Terminological Explication 34
Targets 37
Approaches 38
“Distance” and “Proximity” 39
Summing Up 40
References 46
2: Disciplines and Approaches 48
What are These Things Called ‘Disciplines’? 50
Distinctive Discussions of “Discipline” 52
Problems of Disciplinarity 52
Three Dimensions (Plus Some) of Disciplinarity 55
Social Aspects Only 56
Objects Only 57
Objects and Tools Combined 58
All Included? 60
Where Does This Leave Us? 60
Approaches 63
Approaches vs. Fields 66
Distance vs. Proximity Revisited 67
More on Temporality 69
Summing Up 70
References 72
3: Interdisciplinarity Studies 75
What is Interdisciplinarity? 77
Knowledge Generation and Integration 79
Interdisciplinarity is Not New 81
More Recent Developments: The Turn-Turn 83
Literature Studies 84
Psychoanalytic Literature Studies 85
A Different Approach 86
The Evolutionary Turn 87
The Neurological Turn 90
What is the Point? 94
More Reasonable Reasons for Interdisciplinarity 95
Specialisation vs. Integration 97
Three Modes of Integration 100
The Polymath Mode 100
The Social Mode 100
The Educational Mode 101
All of the Above 101
Science without a Core Set? 102
Degenerating Hard Core Sets 103
Summing Up 104
References 107
4: The Relevance of Philosophy 112
Relevant Philosophical Approaches to Interdisciplinarity 115
Kitcher’s Historical Perspective 115
Weisberg’s Vehicle Perspective 118
Pluralism and Representation 119
Summing Up 122
References 123
5: Representation 126
The Basics 128
Enter Ronald Giere 131
Constructive Realism 132
Perspectival Realism 135
The Expanded and Enriched X 138
Deflation 139
To Model (Mathematically) or Not to Model (At All) 141
The Propositions 144
Weisberg on Construal Assignment
Use & Similarity
Summing Up 149
References 154
6: Pluralisms, Perspectives, and Potential Problems 158
Pluralism—What is It? 159
The Pluralisms 163
#1—Internal Pluralism 163
#2—External Pluralism 164
#3—Metaphysical (Nomological) Pluralism and CP-Clauses 164
#4—Epistemic (Representational) Pluralism 166
Perspectivism 167
Perspectives of Theory 170
Laws and Perspectives 173
Distortions 173
Idealisation 174
Relocational Idealisation 178
Approximation 179
Distortions of Scale 180
Simpson’s Distortions 181
Distortion of Variance 183
The Case of Operational Definition 189
Operational Definition Makes Its Way into Psychopathology 193
Current Problems Facing Operational Definition in Psychopathology 197
Final Remarks on OD? 199
Simpson’s Revisited 200
Summing Up 203
References 206
7: Representational Crossbreeding 212
The Simple Duplex 214
Social Integration 217
Target Integration 219
Targeting a Different Target by Means of the Same Approach? 221
Purpose Integration 221
Approach Integration 222
The Method 228
Transferring Vehicles 228
Inserting Elements of Approaches as Parts of Vehicles 230
Relocating Elements of the Intermediate Layer 231
Two Strategies 233
Strategy #1: De-idealisation 234
Strategy #2: Bold Conjectures 236
Summing Up 237
References 240
8: Phenomenology Imported with EASE 243
So, What is Psychiatry and Psychopathology? 246
What is Schizophrenia? 248
What is EASE, Then? 252
The NP2014 Approach 260
Parent Approaches? 261
How Distant are the Parent Approaches? 264
The Vehicle of the Integrated Approach 265
The Target 268
The Intermediate Layer 270
(1) The Importance of in-Depth Qualitative Analysis 270
(2) The Significance of Quantification 271
The Elements 271
Target Group Delimitations (Definitions/Algorithms) 272
Exclusion Criteria 273
Semi-structured Interviews, Expertise, and the Likert Scale 274
(1) Semi-structured Interview 274
(2) Specialists’ Categorisation 275
(3) The Likert Scale 276
Dichotomisation 277
Statistical Tools 279
The Vehicle 280
The Verdict 280
The Good News 285
What Causes the Problems? 286
To Do-List 287
Summing Up 289
References 293
9: Conclusion 297
A Brief Reflexive Moment 300
Future Opportunities 301
Index 303