Interdisciplinarity and the History of Western Epistemology

The development of interdisciplinary theory is problematic in several ways, not least the ambiguity inherent in the diverse conceptualizations and applications of the term. However, the focus in interdisciplinary scholarship on disciplinary negotiation, complexity, and integration allows for a more coherent approach to such developments. At its core, interdisciplinarity constitutes a unique approach to knowledge and therefore is involved in questions of epistemology. The idea of interdisciplinarity arises from and responds to the key epistemological strategies in the Western philosophical canon. These strategies, including logical determinism, duality and absolute truth, are examined in detail through a survey of primary works. This survey will help situate interdisciplinarity in the History of Ideas and begin to lay the foundation for a philosophically grounded theory of interdisciplinarity.