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So this PowerPoint video will[br]cover the key elements that

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make up academic disciplines.

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As I mentioned in[br]the module content,

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I'm going to introduce[br]the elements,

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define them, and[br]then briefly explain

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why, as interdisciplinary[br]study students,

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it's useful and important[br]for you to know them.

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The main reason why[br]I want to detail

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the elements of disciplines[br]is because the main objective

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of this module and[br]really, for this course

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is the premise that[br]interdisciplinary studies

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is rooted in and depends[br]on the disciplines.

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I know I've said[br]that repeatedly,

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but again, that's[br]the overall point

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of this particular module.

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So what I want you to do is[br]imagine that each discipline

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has its own culture.

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And so what we want[br]to do is to try

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to better understand the[br]pieces and elements that

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make up that culture.

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And of course, this[br]will also help you

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with this week's assignment,[br]the Areas of Study paper,

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which also asks[br]you to get to know

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your disciplines by identifying[br]many of the key elements we're

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going to discuss here today.

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So one of the first key[br]elements is phenomena,

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and phenomenon refers[br]to the enduring aspects

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of human existence that[br]are of interest to scholars

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and are candidates for scholarly[br]description and explanation.

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In other words, a[br]phenomena is something

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that exists in the world that[br]is worthy of thought, that

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is worthy of scholars[br]taking their time

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and intellectual labor to[br]study and examine or explore.

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Now, the important thing[br]is that every discipline

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has its own ideas about[br]what is worthy of thought

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and what is a suitable[br]topic for practitioners

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in that discipline to study.

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So let me give a few[br]concrete examples here.

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So in the natural[br]sciences, the phenomena

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for the discipline of[br]chemistry, for instance,

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is the periodic table[br]of chemical elements

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that are the building[br]blocks of matter--

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their composition,[br]properties, and reactions.

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Another example, let's[br]take the social sciences.

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So the phenomena for[br]psychology and psychologists

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is the nature of human[br]behavior, as well as

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the internal, or the[br]brain and the mind,

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and the external, the[br]environment or society,

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the internal and[br]external factors that

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affect this human behavior.

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So one last example would[br]be in the humanities.

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The discipline of history is[br]concerned with the people,

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events, and movements[br]of human civilization,

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both past and present.

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And again, this is what they[br]deem worthy to think about,

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and it's worthy of[br]intellectual thought and thus,

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their phenomena.

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So part of getting to[br]know your areas of study

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is identifying[br]the phenomena that

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may be related to your research[br]question or potential topic.

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And I also want to be very[br]clear here that phenomena often

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overlap between disciplines.

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So you can see that[br]in some cases maybe

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a historian would be[br]interested in the way

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the brain and the mind affects[br]human behavior over time

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or that historians are also[br]interested in human behavior

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that is shaped by both[br]individual characteristics,

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but also, structural[br]societal factors.

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Next, we have assumptions,[br]and assumptions

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are something that's[br]taken for granted,

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a supposition, a[br]principle that underlies

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the discipline as a whole[br]and its overall perspective

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on the world and on reality.

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And assumptions are often[br]accepted as true or sure

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to happen, oftentimes,[br]even without proof,

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and they are upon which the[br]disciplines theories, concepts,

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methods, and even[br]curriculum are based.

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So for example, sociology[br]has very different beliefs

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and assumptions than say,[br]the discipline of economics.

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So while assumptions can and do[br]vary widely within sociology,

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sociologists tend to assume[br]that a phenomena like poverty,

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for instance, is a result[br]of societal and structural

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factors.

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On the other hand,[br]economics are more

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inclined to assume that[br]poverty is the result of market

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failures or even as a result[br]of individual responsibility

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or mismanagement of income.

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Thus, every discipline[br]or area of study

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is rooted in its own[br]assumptions and worldviews,

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and if you can identify[br]the assumptions

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of your areas of[br]study, you'll be

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better prepared to[br]identify conflicts

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and tensions between them.

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Next, we have epistemology,[br]which is a big, fancy word

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that I'm sure many of[br]you may be familiar with.

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And this is a[br]branch of philosophy

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that studies how one knows[br]what is true, but also,

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how one validates truth,[br]or in other words,

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how do we know what we know, and[br]how do we know that it's true?

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And each discipline[br]has agreements

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about how researchers[br]in that discipline

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should select their data,[br]evaluate their experiments,

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and judge their[br]theories, and of course,

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about how to go about[br]creating knowledge.

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And generally speaking,[br]most disciplinary scholars

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tend to fall into one of these[br]two epistemological camps.

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The first is modernism,[br]which, at its core,

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is the belief in objective,[br]empirically-based, rationally

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analyzed truth that[br]is, in fact, knowable.

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And one school of thought that's[br]very popular within modernism

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is positivism, this[br]idea that there exists

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a true reality that[br]can be discovered

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through careful research[br]and observations,

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that there's one[br]reality in the world,

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and we can find it if we[br]just do enough objective data

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collection and that[br]an objective analysis,

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an analysis without any biases[br]at all, is actually possible.

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Now, on the other[br]polar opposite end

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are interpretivists,[br]sometimes also referred to

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as postmodernists.

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An interpretivist[br]believe that the world

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is socially constructed, that[br]so-called reality doesn't

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exist independently of our[br]interpretation of them.

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So there can be[br]multiple realities,

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depending on your perspective[br]and experiences in the world,

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and most importantly,[br]that objective analysis

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without any bias is impossible,[br]that we all have biases.

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It's just a matter of making[br]that clear in our research

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what our biases are.

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So the point of getting a sense[br]of your areas of studies, what

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we might call epistemological[br]tendencies, which, by the way,

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is hardly, if ever explicit.

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So scholars aren't going to[br]say, this is my epistemology.

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But we want to get[br]a sense of them,

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especially their[br]limitations and advantages,

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in order to be able to[br]select the most appropriate

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for the problem at hand.

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