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Abstract Coupled human‐water systems (CHWS) are diverse and have been studied across a wide variety of disciplines. Integrating multiple disciplinary perspectives on CHWS provides a comprehensive and actionable understanding of these complex systems. While interdisciplinary integration has often remained elusive, specific combinations of disciplines might be comparably easier to integrate (compatible), and/or their combination might be particularly likely to uncover previously unobtainable insights (complementary). This paper systematically identifies such promising combinations by mapping disciplines along a common set of topical, philosophical, and methodological dimensions. It also identifies key challenges and lessons for multidisciplinary research teams seeking to integrate highly promising (complementary) but poorly compatible disciplines. Applied to eight disciplines that span the environmental physical sciences and the quantitative and qualitative social sciences, we found that promising combinations of disciplines identified by the typology broadly reproduce patterns of recent interdisciplinary collaborative research revealed by a bibliometric analysis. We also found that some disciplines are centrally located within the typology by being compatible and complementary to multiple other disciplines along distinct dimensions. This points to the potential for these disciplines to act as catalysts for wider interdisciplinary integration. This article is categorized under:Engineering Water > MethodsHuman Water > MethodsScience of Water > Methods
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Philosophical Boundaries Between Scientific Disciplines
This paper explores the often assumed but understudied disciplinary assumption in the philosophy of science: that philosophical commitments are uniform within disciplines and vary substantially across them. Preliminary findings from interviews with scientists across diverse disciplines suggest partial endorsement of this assumption. While some philosophical commonalities exist between disciplines, distinctions also prevail. The study highlights the need for further research, including a large-scale survey, to comprehensively examine and understand the philosophical landscape within and between scientific disciplines.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2218601
- PAR ID:
- 10528592
- Publisher / Repository:
- World Congress of Philosophy
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- philosophical commitments, scientists, interviews, scientific disciplines, cross-disciplinary
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Rome, Italy
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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