Pluralism and Normativity in Interdisciplinary Research

The label of ‘interdisciplinarity’ is often accused of grouping a variety of different (and often incompatible) approaches and methodologies – in fact, almost as many as there are scholars and research communities pursuing interdisciplinary inquiries. Far from being a sign of disunity and weakness, however, this very fragmentation exemplifies the common concerns underlying interdisciplinary research: a willingness to express a plurality of viewpoints, to mediate between different perspectives in a context-sensitive and overtly goal-directed way, and to use a combination of representational tools without necessarily reducing them all to a single, unifying perspective on the issues and/or phenomena to be researched.      «

The label of ‘interdisciplinarity’ is often accused of grouping a variety of different (and often incompatible) approaches and methodologies – in fact, almost as many as there are scholars and research communities pursuing interdisciplinary inquiries. Far from being a sign of disunity and weakness, however, this very fragmentation exemplifies the common concerns underlying interdisciplinary research: a willingness to express a plurality of viewpoints, to mediate between different perspectives i...     »