Multidisciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Sciences

Abstract

The ideas of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity have been widely applied to the relationship between sciences. This article is an attempt to discuss the reasons why scientific interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity pose specific problems. First of all, certain questions about terminology are taken into account in order to clarify the meaning of the word ‘discipline’ and its cognates. Secondly, we argue that the specificity of sciences does not lie in becoming disciplines. Then, we focus on the relationship between sciences, and between sciences and technologies: we argue that multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity are a common practice among strict sciences and technologies. Finally, we discuss the different meanings of transdisciplinarity when it is applied to sciences.

Acknowledgements

I owe a special debt to Carlos Madrid who encouraged me to write on this subject. The two anonymous referees of International Studies in the Philosophy of Science made innumerable and valuable suggestions to improve the first version of this article. Aurora and Mark Matley made a careful revision of the manuscript. Finally, I want to honour philosophers Gustavo Bueno and Vidal Peña whose philosophy constitutes the main source of inspiration of this work.

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Notes on contributors

David Alvargonzález

David Alvargonzález is at the Department of Philosophy, University of Oviedo. Correspondence to: Facultad de Filosofía, Universidad de Oviedo, C/ Teniente Alfonso Martínez s/n, 33011 Oviedo, Spain.