Some thoughts on Interdisciplinary Studies are expressed
Journal Title: International Journal of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies (IJIMS) - Year 2017, Vol 4, Issue 3
Abstract
During the past one or two decades, a new field is visible on the horizon of human thoughts - the field of Interdisciplinary Studies. These days a beautiful poster decorates at least one door in every university - The Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies. To avoid this becoming just the latest architectural fashion, it becomes necessary periodically to ask the question, “ What, after all, is Interdisciplinary Studies other than a catch-phrase for something so nebulous that it can include everything, very much like the Theory Of Everything in physics?” The reason for such a periodic “Quo Vadis, Interdisciplinary Studies?” is that otherwise the field is in the danger of becoming any other overspecialised field with no relation to other fields. What this means is that the individuals in such an institute are busy in their overspecialised interdisciplinary studies without knowing what their next door colleague is doing. For some fields , like mathematics, this unfortunate situation may be acceptable, but for interdisciplinary studies it becomes a contradiction in terms. I am not capable of answering “Quo Vadis, Interdisciplinary Studies?” but at least I can try to answer “Quo Vadis, Mr. Mann?” in this paper I divide the Interdisciplinary Universe into the following spectrum of Sub-universes: The Mathematical Universe, The Physical Universe, The Biological Universe, The Psychological Universe, The Philosophical Universe, The Historical Universe, and The Literary Universe. For me this particular order is very important because it demonstrates the basic differences between these Universes. If Mathematics and Literature are at the two extremes of this spectrum, there is a reason. The main difference between them is that in mathematics everything is tightly woven through very exact definitions. In literature everything is loose and “anything goes”. Another way to say this is that to study mathematics you have to follow a very specific order like high school algebra to trigonometry to calculus. Without knowing trigonometry, you cannot proceed to calculus. In literature you can start anywhere, like Hardy or Keats before Shakespeare. In principle you can be a very great writer and scholar of English without ever having heard of Shakespeare. Nothing in literature requires that you have to know or study Shakespeare to be a great writer in English. The fact that all English writers know of Shakespeare is purely “accidental” and is not by any “Intellectual Law or Decree”.
Authors and Affiliations
Rattan Mann
Keywords
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