Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Study, and Minor Programs of Study
Description
The inquiry form of liberal education conveys a much-needed sense of
purpose for undergraduate education. Inquiry principles enable the assessment of
conventional organizations and practices with much clearer criteria than currently
available, and they call into sharp question the efficacy of relying exclusively on
disciplinary criteria for organizing undergraduates' advanced, "in depth" study.
Through an inquiry approach, we can see that academic disciplines are a part of the
professional culture of academics rather than an expression of inherent properties of
universal knowledge structures. This enables the case for interdisciplinary study to
be made in cogent intellectual and pedagogical terms that do not implicitly accept
the centrality of disciplines. The last section of the essay contains a proposal for a
curricular structure that holds substantial promise in promoting the type of education
advocated in the first two sections. While very aware of the danger of overstating the
case, the proposal does directly and plausibly address some of the most pressing
concerns in higher education.
Citation
Weaver, Frederick S. "Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Study, and Minor Programs of Study." Issues in Integrative Studies 4 (1986): 37-55.
Date
1986