Hlavní stránka Info portálu ZČU

What can it give to students and society? These were the questions and the answers to them at the panel discussion Interdisciplinarity - science and education at the interdisciplinary frontier. 

The second edition of the panel discussion on the relationship between the humanities and social sciences and the disciplines of science and technology was organized by the Department of Philosophy of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of ZČU in the Moving Station in Pilsen at the end of November. It invited representatives of the world of humanities, natural sciences and technical sciences, from the spiritual, university and private spheres. 

In the morning part, students of various doctoral programs of the philosophical faculties of the Charles University and the Charles University discussed the topic. The afternoon session, opened by the Rector of the University of West Bohemia Miroslav Holeček, brought a number of interesting suggestions on the topic of interdisciplinarity. 

 "The University has in its name that in the field of knowledge it aims not only at depth, but also at 'one', 'ad unum vertere'.  So there has always been a perception that knowledge and experience that goes into depth must also be directed towards understanding the whole," said Bishop Tomáš Holub of Plzeň. He recalled that society has always admired people who were able to perceive things from different perspectives. However, as specialization became more and more narrow, it became almost impossible to combine knowledge that went into depth and encompassed the whole. If we are unable to encompass interdisciplinarity in quantity, we must try to encompass knowledge qualitatively. "We have to put the question of meaning into interdisciplinarity," said the Bishop of Pilsen. 

"Serious interdisciplinarity means that we enter into concrete knowledge quite consciously with the question WHY. Why does it make sense to investigate things in depth? What do we want to work towards?" Tomáš Holub explained. According to him, the question for meaning must be the common platform on which the interconnection of disciplines makes sense. "The question of meaning is at the same time a question of a certain spirituality of knowledge, i.e. what dimension of spiritual potential there is in knowing things. From a spiritual perspective, knowledge can be grasped in two ways. One level is the level of power, which is characterized by the desire to control, the other level includes the ability to serve, to create solidarity, a space for reciprocity and goodness," said Tomas Holub. The responsibility of those who strive for interdisciplinarity, according to him, should be precisely to work towards the good.