This blog presents a dialogue on what a Discipline is?
However before we understand it we need to know what is knowledge?
Knowledge, in its most popular form, is defined as a justified true belief. This definition is also as the tripartite definition of knoweledge since it include three important aspects viz.
i. Knower S believes in something X.
ii. X is true.
iii. S's belief in truth of X is justified. The correspondence between X and its truth should not be merely a matter of coincidence.
However while accepting this definition of knowledge, one need to be clarified that this knowledge holds good for propositional knowledge only. There are other forms of knowledge as well such as procedural knowledge and tacit knowledge that could not be defined in terms of the tripartite knowledge unless they are all transformed in the form of propositions.
a, Guiding Problems:
Every discipline has certain set of guiding problems or research questions. These pressing questions provide a direction for the development and progress of the discipline. The solution to these pressing questions further enrich the discipline in terms of its knowledge content.
The guiding questions further serve as the uniting thread for those working or those affiliated to a particular discipline. People from far flung areas working on the problems are connected and linked with each other by their commitment towards finding answers to those questions. Thus a cohort of researchers is created in the particular discipline and many often the word discipline is used to denote this cohort of people working on the guiding problems of the discipline.
b. Epistemic Bases:
Every discipline has its own distinct epistemic base in that the people involved in solving the problems of the discipline reflect a unity in their basic assumptions regarding how knowledge is to be created and validated.
The cohort of researchers in a particular discipline has certain basic assumptions and beliefs related to the epistemic questions of knowledge and they pursue their quest for knowledge in light of those basic assumptions and beliefs.
Whereas this epistemic commonality is the basis for the unity among the members of the cohort, it many often also leads to contradiction and fraction that eventually culminates in a shift in the basic assumptions and beliefs (Thomas Kuhn). Nevertheless at any point of time there are certain well accepted beliefs and assumptions that the workers in the discipline stick to and act accordingly
c. Continuity:
At any given point of time every discipline is guided by a set fundamental questions that provides a direction for the progress of the discipline. However the fundamental questions at that particular point of time is linked to and arises from the fundamental questions that has guided the discipline in the past and it also paves the way for the fundamental questions that will arise and guide the workers in the future.
The relationship between the problems of the discipline at a given point of time in history of the discipline with those at other points of time in history was termed as Genealogy of Problems by Toulmene.
It is this genealogy of problems that provides a continuity to any particular discipline.
. d. Dynamism:
Every discipline is characterized by dynamism. The word dynamism signify that the discipline is in a state of flux and there is a perpetual growth and development in the discipline. however there are two views presented on the mode in which discipline grows and develops.
First view is that of Thomas Kuhn as presented in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolution. According to Kuhn, discipline undergoes a paradigmatic shift in which the basic assumptions regarding inquiry and the criteria of inquiry shifts leading to a sort of revolution in the particular discipline. Thus the fundamental approach towards the discipline's problem
undergoes a complete change and a new era of research is initiated that leads to new achievements in the particular discipline.According to Kuhn then discipline develops through quantum leaps rather than following some gradual continuous process.
The second view was that presented by Toulmene according to whom enrichment and milestones in a discipline are achieved in a gradually evolving way. The discipline is persistently impregnated by a continuous flow of ideas of which the significant ones are selectively breeded whereas the inconsistent ideas naturally weed out by the self correcting inquiry process of the discipline. Toulmene's idea was a result of his affinity with the theory of natural selection. The ideas that has greater scope in terms of explaining a phenomenon and accomodating the examples of the phenomenon are naturally selected, breeded and eventually established whereas the others keep on perishing owing to little explanatory power.
However before we understand it we need to know what is knowledge?
Knowledge, in its most popular form, is defined as a justified true belief. This definition is also as the tripartite definition of knoweledge since it include three important aspects viz.
i. Knower S believes in something X.
ii. X is true.
iii. S's belief in truth of X is justified. The correspondence between X and its truth should not be merely a matter of coincidence.
However while accepting this definition of knowledge, one need to be clarified that this knowledge holds good for propositional knowledge only. There are other forms of knowledge as well such as procedural knowledge and tacit knowledge that could not be defined in terms of the tripartite knowledge unless they are all transformed in the form of propositions.
How knowledge is confined into disciplines?
Knowledge is not fixed or limited either temporally or spatially. Ever since the onset of human civilization knowledge has been in a perpetual state of expansion and enrichment. The expansion of knowledge necessitate the need to organize the same in a way that it further facilitate communication and enrichment.
At a formal level, human beings have used the natural mental propensity to classify things as a tool to organize the vast array of accumulated knowledge. The classification of knowledge led to the emergence of various disciplines and the basic purpose behind this classification was organization of knowledge so as to facilitate teaching, learning and research.
What are the conditions for a category of knowledge to qualify as a Discipline?
A review of literature can suggest a number of defining characteristics as qualifiers of a discipline. some of the significant qualifiers are provided below based on the ideas of Tanner and Tanner and Toulmene.
.
Every discipline has certain set of guiding problems or research questions. These pressing questions provide a direction for the development and progress of the discipline. The solution to these pressing questions further enrich the discipline in terms of its knowledge content.
The guiding questions further serve as the uniting thread for those working or those affiliated to a particular discipline. People from far flung areas working on the problems are connected and linked with each other by their commitment towards finding answers to those questions. Thus a cohort of researchers is created in the particular discipline and many often the word discipline is used to denote this cohort of people working on the guiding problems of the discipline.
b. Epistemic Bases:
Every discipline has its own distinct epistemic base in that the people involved in solving the problems of the discipline reflect a unity in their basic assumptions regarding how knowledge is to be created and validated.
The cohort of researchers in a particular discipline has certain basic assumptions and beliefs related to the epistemic questions of knowledge and they pursue their quest for knowledge in light of those basic assumptions and beliefs.
Whereas this epistemic commonality is the basis for the unity among the members of the cohort, it many often also leads to contradiction and fraction that eventually culminates in a shift in the basic assumptions and beliefs (Thomas Kuhn). Nevertheless at any point of time there are certain well accepted beliefs and assumptions that the workers in the discipline stick to and act accordingly
c. Continuity:
At any given point of time every discipline is guided by a set fundamental questions that provides a direction for the progress of the discipline. However the fundamental questions at that particular point of time is linked to and arises from the fundamental questions that has guided the discipline in the past and it also paves the way for the fundamental questions that will arise and guide the workers in the future.
The relationship between the problems of the discipline at a given point of time in history of the discipline with those at other points of time in history was termed as Genealogy of Problems by Toulmene.
It is this genealogy of problems that provides a continuity to any particular discipline.
. d. Dynamism:
Every discipline is characterized by dynamism. The word dynamism signify that the discipline is in a state of flux and there is a perpetual growth and development in the discipline. however there are two views presented on the mode in which discipline grows and develops.
First view is that of Thomas Kuhn as presented in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolution. According to Kuhn, discipline undergoes a paradigmatic shift in which the basic assumptions regarding inquiry and the criteria of inquiry shifts leading to a sort of revolution in the particular discipline. Thus the fundamental approach towards the discipline's problem
undergoes a complete change and a new era of research is initiated that leads to new achievements in the particular discipline.According to Kuhn then discipline develops through quantum leaps rather than following some gradual continuous process.
The second view was that presented by Toulmene according to whom enrichment and milestones in a discipline are achieved in a gradually evolving way. The discipline is persistently impregnated by a continuous flow of ideas of which the significant ones are selectively breeded whereas the inconsistent ideas naturally weed out by the self correcting inquiry process of the discipline. Toulmene's idea was a result of his affinity with the theory of natural selection. The ideas that has greater scope in terms of explaining a phenomenon and accomodating the examples of the phenomenon are naturally selected, breeded and eventually established whereas the others keep on perishing owing to little explanatory power.
