Modernism, Postmodernism, and Interdisciplinarity

While postmodernist and modernist approaches to a range of epistemological and methodological issues are well established, there is less explicit attention given to the contribution of interdisciplinarity to these same questions. Through a comparison/contrast format, this paper will examine the particularities of modernist, postmodernist, and interdisciplinary theory and practice, and follow with observations regarding the ways in which, despite complementarities, the interdisciplinary position overcomes problems often associated with modernism and postmodernism. While in other arenas different aspects of these contested concepts might be explored, this study promotes inquiry that rigorously addresses how scholarship can be advanced and how the academy can exercise its responsibility in the public sphere.