Theory and Practice in the Interdisciplinary Production and Reproduction of Scientific Knowledge

This book addresses the urgent need for a large and systematic analysis of current interdisciplinary (ID) research and practice. It demonstrates how ID is essentially a cognitive phenomenon, something different from the frivolous and inconsequential attempt of trying to overcome the disciplinary competencies and exigencies. By ID, the authors show that it is a manifestation of the transversal rationality that underlies current scientific activity. It is the very progress of specialized disciplines that requires interdisciplinary new research practices and new forms of articulation between domains, something that has a strong impact on the traditional disciplinary structure of scientific and educational institutions. 

Divided into two parts, the book presents a conceptual framework as well as several case studies on ID practices. The book aims at covering three main themes. It contributes to the stabilization of ID meaning and characterizes the main ID theorizations which have been proposed until now. It builds an innovative and broad understanding of the several ID determinations as an essentially cognitive phenomenon and of its institutional implications at the level of disciplinary structures and curricular organization. Finally, it distinguishes and maps the diversity of ID procedures and practices which are being used and tested by contemporary scientific and educational institutions. This book is addressed to philosophers, scientists and every one interested in science production and reproduction, including science teaching.

Olga Maria Pombo Martins has a BA in Philosophy from the Faculty of Arts, University of Lisbon. She concluded her Master in Modern Philosophy, in 1986, at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, New University of Lisbon. In 1998 she completed her PhD in History and Philosophy of Education at the Faculty of Science, University of Lisbon (FCUL). In 2009 she obtained her Aggregation in History and Philosophy of Science for the FCUL with the presentation of the lesson "Tasks of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science for the twenty-first century." She was Professor of the Department of History and Philosophy of the Science of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (until 2016) of which she was the President from 2007 until 2012. She was founder and Coordinator (2003-2017) of the “Centre for Philosophy of Science of Lisbon University” (CFCUL) . She was the Coordinator of several research projects such as: "Encyclopaedia and Hypertext" (1999-2002), “Scientific culture. Conceptual migrations and social contaminations” (2002-2005), “Image in Science and Art” (2006-2011), "Universal Logics and Unity of Science” (2008-2010), “Knowledge Dynamics in the Field of Social Sciences: Abduction, Intuition and Invention" (2011-2012) and Associate Researcher of diverse other international projects. She is founding member of the" Société de Philosophie des Sciences" in Paris, honorary member of the “International Association for the Study of Controversies” and member of the honour commission of the Portuguese “Reading National Plan” (PNL 2027). She also founded the International Doctoral Program in Philosophy of Science, Technology, Art and Society of which she was the Program Director until 2016. She was selected as one of the 100 science women to be part of the book “Women in Science” edited by Ciência Viva (2016). She authored and edited, both nationally and internationally, numerous publications and has collaborated and lectured intensively in Portugal and abroad.Her interests divide by Modern Philosophy (especially Leibniz), Philosophy of Science (Unity of Science, Interdisciplinarity, general Epistemology, Scientific Image, Poincaré, Neurath, Bachelard), Philosophy of Language (Leibniz, Hobbes, Spinoza, Rousseau, Hegel), but also Encyclopedia, Hypertex, Philosophy of School and, more recently, Science and Art whose teaching she has initiated in Portugal. She founded and is the Director of "Kairos - Journal of Philosophy and Science" (De Gruyter). She is currently Head of the CFCUL "Transversal Research Pole", member of the scientific council of the "Réseau National des Maisons des Sciences de l'Homme” (Paris), of the “Centro Studi sulla Natura, L’Umano e l’Unita del Pensiero (Roma), and President of the General Assembly Board of the “Portuguese Logics Society” (Lisbon) .Klaus Gärtner studied Philosophy at the University of Regensburg (Germany). He obtained his PhD – funded by the Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) – at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the New University of Lisbon as a collaborator of the Institute of Philosophy of the NOVA (IFILNOVA) in 2014, with his dissertation entitled "From Consciousness to Knowledge – The Explanatory Power of Revelation". In 2010 he was a visiting PhD student at the Centre for Consciousness at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia, under the supervision of David Chalmers. Currently, he is a researcher at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon(DHFC/FCUL) and the Centre of Philosophy of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (CFCUL). Klaus is also a collaborator of the Lisbon Mind, Cognition and Knowledge Group. His research interests include Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science, Philosophy of AI, Philosophy of Science, Epistemology and Metaphysics.
Jorge Correia Jesuíno has a PhD in Sociology from the Technical University of Lisbon. He is a Professoremeritus at the Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) in Lisboa, Portugal. He also is Honoris Causa by the Universidade Federal do Paraiba (UFPB) Brazil and the Panteion University in Athens. As a Research Member of the Center for Philosophy of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (CFCUL), he is teaching and investigating within the areas of Organizational Behaviour and Social Representations. He has published a number of texts on leadership, group processes, social representations and epistemology.