A new synthesis of scientific knowledge: the making of interdisciplinary science

A new synthesis of scientific knowledge: the making of interdisciplinary science


Kravchenko S.A.

Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof., Head of the Department of Sociology, MGIMO-University; Chief Researcher, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia sociol7@yandex.ru

Salygin V.I.

Moscow State Institute of international relations (University) of Russian Federation Foreign ministry, Moscow, Russia miep@mgimo.ru

ID of the Article:


For citation:

Kravchenko S.A., Salygin V.I. A new synthesis of scientific knowledge: the making of interdisciplinary science. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2015. No 10. P. 22-30




Abstract

Emerging interdisciplinary science is based on a new synthesis of sciences under impact of “the arrow of time” (I. Prigogine). This effect is gradually spreading to the non-linear dynamics of scientific, i.a., sociological, knowledge. Contemporary knowledge acquires reflexivity, assumes the forms of “the making” (P. Sztompka): components of academic nonknowledge (U. Beck) in it are growing, while dynamics of knowledge gain a new vector: transition from their simple accumulatioin via development in the context of paradigmatic essence (T. Kuhn). ‘Turns in sociology” are analyzed, that is changing interactions with natural sciences that imply borrowings of terms and concepts. Response to these challenges the authors see in a synthesis of social, natural and humanitarian knowledge. The core of the bridge idea is discussed which might contribute to forming and making of interdisciplinary science, theoretical and methodological tool set adequate to complicated social and material worlds.


Keywords
social and cultural dynamics; “arrow of time”; reflexivity; non-linearity; scientific knowledge; non-knowledge; synthesis of scientific knowledge; humanitarian turn
Content No 10, 2015