Olga Pombo

Science is a dynamic process in which the assimilation of new phenomena, perspectives, and hypotheses into the scientific corpus takes place slowly. The apparent disunity of the sciences is the unavoidable consequence of this gradual integration process. Some thinkers label this dynamical circumstance a ‘crisis’. However, a retrospective view of the practical results of the scientific enterprise and of science itself, grants us a clear view of the unity of the human knowledge seeking enterprise. This book provides many arguments, case studies and examples in favor of the unity of science. These contributions touch upon various scientific perspectives and disciplines such as: Physics, Computer Science, Biology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, and Economics.

With this volume of the series Logic, Epistemology, and the Unity of Science edited by S. Rahman et al. a challenging dialogue is being continued. The series’ first volume argued that one way to recover the connections between logic, philosophy of sciences, and sciences is to acknowledge the host of alternative logics which are currently being developed. The present volume focuses on four key themes. First of all, several chapters unpack the connection between knowledge and epistemology with particular focus on the notion of knowledge as resulting from interaction. Secondly, new epistemological perspectives on linguistics, the foundations of mathematics and logic, physics, biology and law are a subject of analysis. Thirdly, several chapters are dedicated to a discussion of Constructive Type Theory and more generally of the proof-theoretical notion of meaning.Finally, the book brings together studies on the epistemic role of abduction and argumentation theory, both linked to non-monotonic approaches to the dynamics of knowledge.

Interdisciplinarity is an unavoidable reality for anyone who wants to think out the current condition of scientific knowledge. Its emergence at the second half of the twentieth century as a major cognitive phenomenon and a much large cultural and civilizational trend is of great relevance for understanding our science and our time I will begin by giving some attention to the main instances and visible signs of that past and current interdisciplinary situation, both in scientific research and in school system, in order to afterwards be able to point out some future prospects.

My purpose is to listen to what is sought to be said in the word interdisciplinarity, to carefully hear what “with” it, and “through” it, is trying to be thought out. My hypothesis is that interdisciplinarity constitutes the visible manifestation of three main determinations of great relevance for the understanding of our science and our time: 1) the opposition to a science becoming more and more fragmented and specialized; 2) the procedural approach to a more and more complex level of reality; 3) the refusal to lose the sense of unity and, at the same time, the experimentation of new forms to reach unity, in a more plural way. I will start by trying to hear the word itself, its birth, parentage, competitors, contexts of use and definition requirements (Part I). Afterwards, I will present and discuss those three main determinations, both in their past directions as in their current movements and future challenges (Part II).

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.

Nowadays, the forms assumed by knowledge indicate an unhinging of traditional structures conceived on the model of discipline. Consequently, what was once strictly disciplinary becomes interdisciplinary, what was homogeneous becomes heterogeneous and what was hierarchical becomes heterarchical. When we look for a matrix of interdisciplinarity, that is to say, a primary basis or an essential dimension of all the complex phenomena we are surrounded by, we see the need to break with the disciplinary self-restraint in which, often completely inadvertently, many of us lock ourselves up, remaining anchored to our own competences, ignoring what goes beyond our own sphere of reference. However, interdisciplinarity is still a vague concept and a much demanding practice. It presupposes the continuous search for convergent theoretical perspectives and methodologies, and the definition of common spaces and languages, as well as a true dialogical and open mind of several scholars. From ethics to science, from communication to medicine, from climate change to human evolution the volume Controversies and Interdisciplinarity offers a series of original insights beyond disciplinary fragmentation for a new knowledge model.

Cette communication est une très brève contribution à ce qu’il pourrait être une philosophie de l'enseignement qui prendrait l'enseignement de la philosophie en tant que pierre de touche pour penser cet acte spécifique de communication et construction culturel que l'enseignement est. Par le questionnement de la rélation entr e l'enseignement de la philosophie et l'enseignement de deux autres disciplines paradigmatiques - la Mathématique et la Langue Maternelle - il s'agirá, dans un premier moment, d'approcher l'essence du processus d'enseignement. Dans un second moment, on essayerá d'identifier dans l'enseignement de la philosophie sa façon propre de réalization de cette essence, c'est-à-dire, de reconnaître sa proximité fondamentale à l'essence même de l’enseignement.

This article advances one hypothesis: scientific models reunite a set of non-linguistic determinations which show a subtle – almost imperceptible – proximity between the scientific and the artistic activity. The article does not attempt to see how the scientific model can be a source of inspiration for artistic production, or conversely, how the work of art can inspire modeling in science. The purpose of the article is another. It aims at identifying the determinations that allow to recognize the proximity between scientific models and works of art and at seeing how the basis of each of them is inhabited by a common imaginative nature, by a similar capacity of openness to the new, by an equal passion for space. That is, the article aims at analysing the heuristic nature, the analogical features and the spatialization tendency of scientific models and to perceive how these three determinations reveal an inexorable, albeit modest, proximity between the scientific model and the work of art. We hope to contribute to, among many secret passages that have already been identified between science and art, to point out another possibility. Almost imperceptible.

Ao mesmo tempo que a disciplinaridade continua e se reforça, assiste-se crescentemente a um movimento que, para simplificar, designamos de interdisciplinaridade. As interdisciplinaridades com os seus objectos científicos próprios e os anseios de uma ciência da totalidade assumem crescente importância. Uma relevância que frequentemente é mais simbólica do que epistemológica, mais discursiva do que metodológica, mais emblemática do que construtora. 'Interdisciplinaridade - Antologia' reúne um conjunto de textos de importantes autores contemporâneos que fizeram do tema da interdisciplinaridade objecto de estudo privilegiado. A sua publicação tem como principal propósito contribuir para o esclarecimento teórico do conceito de interdisciplinaridade e conceitos afins visando o aprofundamento do seu significado, a compreensão do seu valor e limites e um mais profundo entendimento das dificuldades em presença.

This work proposes an understanding of deductive, default and abductive reasoning as different instances of the same phenomenon: epistemic dynamics. It discusses the main intuitions behind each one of these reasoning processes, and suggest how they can be understood as different epistemic actions that modify an agent’s knowledge and/or beliefs in a different way, making formal the discussion with the use of the dynamic epistemic logic framework. The ideas in this paper put the studied processes under the same umbrella, thus highlighting their relationship and allowing a better understanding of how they interact together.

The papers of this Axiomathes special issue were presented at the “Lisbon International Conference: Philosophy of Science in the 21st Century—Challenges and Tasks”, which took place 4–6 December 2013. The conference was organized by the Center for Philosophy of Science of Lisbon University , the only research center exclusively dedicated to Philosophy of Science in Portugal, with the propose of surveying the main challenges and tasks for Philosophy of Science in the 21st century.The selection of papers now presented corresponds to one of the topics pointed out by the Lisbon Conference due to its high relevance in the current philosophy of science: metaphysical problems of science.We know that metaphysics was a philosophical discipline much before it was a concern for philosophy of science. We also know that metaphysics has a long tradition in Philosophy even before Philosophy of Science became a specific area of research. However, we know that independently of some more speculat ..