Editing Interdisciplinarity (section)

==Efforts to simplify and defend the concept==
An article in the ''Social Science Journal'' attempts to provide a simple, common-sense, definition of interdisciplinarity, bypassing the difficulties of defining that concept and obviating the need for such related concepts as [[transdisciplinarity]], pluridisciplinarity, and multidisciplinary:<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Nissani|first=M.|date=1997|title=Ten cheers for interdisciplinarity: The Case for Interdisciplinary Knowledge and Research|journal=Social Science Journal|volume=34|pages=201–216|issue=2|doi=10.1016/S0362-3319(97)90051-3}}</ref>

{{blockquote|To begin with, a discipline can be conveniently defined as any comparatively self-contained and isolated domain of human experience which possesses its own community of experts. Interdisciplinarity is best seen as bringing together distinctive components of two or more disciplines. In academic discourse, interdisciplinarity typically applies to four realms: knowledge, research, education, and theory. Interdisciplinary knowledge involves familiarity with components of two or more disciplines. Interdisciplinary research combines components of two or more disciplines in the search or creation of new knowledge, operations, or artistic expressions. Interdisciplinary education merges components of two or more disciplines in a single program of instruction. Interdisciplinary theory takes interdisciplinary knowledge, research, or education as its main objects of study.}}

In turn, interdisciplinary ''richness'' of any two instances of knowledge, research, or education can be ranked by weighing four variables: number of disciplines involved, the "distance" between them, the novelty of any particular combination, and their extent of integration.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nissani|first=M.|date=1995|title=Fruits, Salads, and Smoothies: A Working Definition of Interdisciplinarity|url=http://www.uta.edu/faculty/repko/INTS_4391/SMOOTHIE.htm|journal=Journal of Educational Thought|volume=29|pages=119–126|issue=2|access-date=31 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806082618/http://www.uta.edu/faculty/repko/INTS_4391/SMOOTHIE.htm|archive-date=6 August 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Interdisciplinary knowledge and research are important because:

# "Creativity often requires interdisciplinary knowledge.
# Immigrants often make important contributions to their new field.
# Disciplinarians often commit errors which can be best detected by people familiar with two or more disciplines.
# Some worthwhile topics of research fall in the interstices among the traditional disciplines.
# Many intellectual, social, and practical problems require interdisciplinary approaches.
# Interdisciplinary knowledge and research serve to remind us of the unity-of-knowledge ideal.
# Interdisciplinarians enjoy greater flexibility in their research.
# More so than narrow disciplinarians, interdisciplinarians often treat themselves to the intellectual equivalent of traveling in new lands.
# Interdisciplinarians may help breach communication gaps in the modern academy, thereby helping to mobilize its enormous intellectual resources in the cause of greater social rationality and justice.
# By bridging fragmented disciplines, interdisciplinarians might play a role in the defense of academic freedom."<ref name=":0" />