Disciplinary Evolution and the Rise of the Transdiscipline

Abstract

science ..., novelty emerges only with difficulty, manifested by resistance, against a background provided by expectations.--Thomas Kuhn (2012) What is an Academic Discipline: Something Old, Something New term academic (or scientific) discipline can be defined as academic studies that focus on a self-imposed limited field of knowledge. idea of scientific disciplines is both old and new. Dirks (1996) traces the origins of academic disciplines back to the ancient Greeks, around 500 BCE, but writes that university departments were first seen in the US only around 1825. Stichweh (2001) also sees scientific disciplines as a relatively new phenomenon, writing The scientific discipline as the primary unit of internal differentiation of science is an invention of nineteenth century society. How do academic disciplines differ? Disciplines differ from one another in at least three primary ways: the area of their investigations (which we call context), their research methods, and their epistemologies (Schommer-Aikins, Du ell, & Barker, 2003). contexts of disciplines are often rendered and compared using a system created by Biglan (1973a, 1973b) that posits a classification of academic disciplines on three orthogonal dimensions (hard vs. soft disciplines, pure vs. applied disciplines, life vs. non-life context). Figure 1 displays in two-dimensions the essence of this framework. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Theory of Evolution in Brief theory of evolution was developed to aid understanding of changes in life forms over generations. Some of the major themes of the theory include the following (see for example, Introduction to evolution, n.d.; Welcome to evolution 101!, 2014.): * Heredity: the defining materials delivered from generation to generation * Variation including: ** Natural Selection (non-random and gradual process of natural variation ) and ** Mutation, changes in an organism's hereditary information ** Drift (random change in the genetic variation of a population from generation to generation) * Speciation: the process in which a species diverges into two or more descendant species. * Extinction * Parallel Evolution: the phenomenon of distinct species that evolved independently possessing similar traits. * Heterosis: improved fitness on an evolutionary fitness landscape of a hybrid offspring. Can Evolution Theory Improve Our Understanding of Disciplines? This paper contends that the analogy between biological evolution and disciplinary evolution is revealing and, so, useful. While it is useful, the analog breaks down when applied at the detailed level. First, evolution theory deals with changes to life forms, and disciplines are not life forms. paper argues that, like life forms, academic disciplines change over time and these changes occur in ways similar to how life forms change. That is, this paper has as its premise that many of these themes of evolution theory have explanatory power when applied to understanding how the current academic disciplines came into being and to anticipate what is in store for the future of disciplines. As with biological forms of life, academic disciplines evolve in response to environmental changes and interactions with others. Those that adapt to their present environment flourish and become stronger; those that do not wither and disappear. Rapid environmental changes can lead to the extinction of those organisms that cannot adapt. Second, the analogy breaks down in that biological evolution typically (but not always) involves the mixing of genetic material from two donors of the same (or similar) species. In disciplinary research, it is common that research is conducted by any number of researchers in that discipline, all sharing their thoughts and work. …