Epistemology: “the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity” (Merriam-Webster)
The study of knowledge, how we know it, and how much we can possibly know. This asks us to delve deeply into the metacognition of our discipline(s) and notice the differences between them. Repko describes how epistemology ties in with, “Disciplines are epistemic communities, meaning that they share an epistemology, or how and how much we can understand about the nature of the world we live in” (Repko, 89).
This falls in well with interdisciplinary studies, because as one discovers and accepts the differences, an individual can use different epistemological understandings as a metaphoric toolbox that they can reach into for different problem-solving tools. Repko lists these tools as: “distinctive analytical tools, concepts, theories, and methods; specialized vocabulary or symbol systems (e.g., musical notation, mathematical equations); and different indicators for acceptably demonstrating understanding (a musical score, a lab report, a proof, a legal brief) (Boix Mansilla & Jackson, 2011, p. 5).” (For my purposes, this is also taken from Repko, 89)
This also ties into the differences between multi-, trans-, and interdisciplinarity. According to Repko, “Multidisciplinarity is the study of a complex issue…from the perspective of two or more disciplines by drawing on their insights but making no attempt to integrate them. Insights are not integrated.” while interdisciplinarity has the difference of, “…by drawing on their insights and integrating them. The interdisciplinary process is used to construct a more comprehensive understanding of the problem. The object of inquiry may be an intellectual question or a real-world issue”. From what I drew from Repko’s explanation, the difference between the two of those and transdisciplinarity is the involvement of not only disciplinarians but also stakeholders and various types of administrative individuals. According to Repko, “Stakeholders may include local businesses, government (local, state, or federal) agencies, nonprofit organizations, and various interest groups (Gibbons et al., 1994)” (included in Repko, 35).
These two topics entwine so completely through using numbers of individuals who work together to come to a solution through their separate epistemologies. While this is common among professional disciplinarians, a singular interdisciplinary individual would be able to do this alone through their understanding of the fields they have studied and the included epistemologies that are involved. This also enables interdisciplinary individuals to act as a bridge to the gap between differing epistemologies, one piece of which is jargon that would otherwise isolate one field from another.
This was me trying to figure out a simple way to explain this:
If you have any tangent thoughts that this pulled on, please mention them in the comments! I would love to hear about them.
I also found this video that covers the basics of epistemology:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This is not only a nice summary, it’s a beautifully designed post– visually engaging, warmly written. I really enjoyed it, and look forward to using it with future undergrads as they puzzle out their own definitions of “epistemology” and “interdisciplinarity.”
I’m absolutely flattered; thank you so much!
I second Robin’s praise and response. Let’s also remember what Einstein said, “The true measure of how intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” Thanks for sharing.