Intellectual Virtues for Interdisciplinary Research: A Consensual Qualitative Analysis

Through a qualitative approach, this study identified a specific subgroup of intellectual virtues necessary for developing interdisciplinary research. Cognitive science was initially conceived as a new discipline emerging from various fields, including philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Vanney, Claudia Estela, Mesurado, Maria Belen, Aguinalde Sáenz, José Ignacio, Richaud, María Cristina
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/220478
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/220478
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
EPISTEMIC VIRTUES
INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
INTERPERSONAL INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
SOCIAL COGNITION
VIRTUE EPISTEMOLOGY
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
Descripción
Sumario:Through a qualitative approach, this study identified a specific subgroup of intellectual virtues necessary for developing interdisciplinary research. Cognitive science was initially conceived as a new discipline emerging from various fields, including philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and anthropology. Thus, a frequent debate among cognitive scientists is whether the initial multidisciplinary program successfully developed into a mature interdisciplinary field or evolved into a set of independent sciences of cognition. For several years, interdisciplinarity has been an aspiration for the academy, although the difficulties limiting the success of interdisciplinary collaborations have begun to erode that initial optimism. Our analysis suggests that the problems hindering the success of interdisciplinarity can be overcome by fostering certain intellectual character strengths in scholars. The Consensual Qualitative Research method was used to analyze nine semi-structured interviews involving researchers with a long personal trajectory of interdisciplinary research between the sciences and the humanities. Three virtue domains emerged from the interviews’ analysis: (i) intellectual virtues, (ii) social virtues, and (iii) interpersonal intellectual virtues. The virtues of the third domain intersect with intellectual and social ones. They are intellectual because they pursue epistemic goods. But, unlike other intellectual virtues, they only develop in interpersonal settings, so they can also be considered to have a social component. Interpersonal intellectual virtues can be thus defined as intellectual character traits that facilitate the acquisition of knowledge (intellectual motivation) with and through other people in a reciprocal way (social environment). These virtues are essential for developing any successful collective epistemic enterprise, interdisciplinary research being a privileged context where these qualities manifest themselves in a relevant way.