THE RISE OF MODERN DISCIPLINE

July 09 Lecture
Dr. MCI Bongabong

Introduction to
Interdisciplinary Studies
 THE RISE OF MODERN DISCIPLINE

• Factors that caused knowledge to be divided into disciplines

• Specialization, fragmentation, and reductionism – the strategy of dividing a
thing into its constituent parts and studying them separately
• Empiricism – the basis for new knowledge in factual evidence derived from
sensory inputs, scientific research
• Professionalization – the need to apply education to specific sectors of
society
• Legitimization – the granting of academic degrees
• Departmentalization – the forming of specialized functioning areas in the
university
THE RISE OF MODERN DISCIPLINE
Origin of the Concept of Disciplinarity
• 20th century
• some of these fields were absorbed in the academic curriculum of
Western universities
• Influential in the history of interdisciplinarity
• Outside of the professions, all students received the same broad
general education
• Scientific Revolution
• 16th to 18th century
• Associated with increased insistence on testing theories through
careful observation or experiment
• Scientific specialization
Origin of the Concept of Disciplinarity
• Between 1750 and 1800
• Disciplines consolidated their hold on the teaching and
production of knowledge by embracing three new
revolutionizing learning techniques:
• Writing, grading, examinations
• Three new teaching settings
• The seminar, (beginning in the German universities in 1760) the
laboratory, (beginning in France before the revolution), the classroom
(in Scotland around 1760)
• the doctorate (in Humboldt University of Berlin in the early 19th
century)
• The university and disciplines as engine of knowledge production
Specialization
• can blind us to the broader context
• Context refers to the circumstances or setting in which the problem, event,
statement, or idea exists.
• tends to produce tunnel vision
• Small area of focus with the rest of the field of view beyond the lens being
used.
• can hinder creative breakthroughs
• Creative breakthroughs often occur when disciplinary perspectives and
unrelated ideas are brought together.
• Narratology (Ginette) – deconstructing narratives into component parts
revealing emergent patterns.
• Dramatic and wide-ranging effects of post-structuralism and
postmodernism both inside and outside the Humanities.
Specialization
• Fails to address complex problems comprehensively
• Issues can have many facets.
• Imposes a past approach on the present
• ID research and learning – the need to ask new questions, try new
approaches, produce new technologies, and develop new
intellectual orientations.
 Task
• Select an article on a controversial public policy issue from a major publication, eg. Phil
Daily Inquirer, Wall Street Journal, New York Times.
• Ask these questions of the author of the article:
• Does the author:
• place the issue in a broad context? Why?
• Suffer from tunnel vision?
• Discount or ignore other perspectives on the issue?
• Propose a creative solution to the issue
• Address the issue comprehensively
• How might an interdisciplinary approach improve the author’s treatment of the issue?

• Encode your critique on a two-page short coupon bond, in word format, TNR single space,
font size 12. Include a copy of. The article when you submit your output on Tuesday, July
14, 2020