Myths and potencilities of interdisciplinarity: reflections about an emerging topic

Abstract

Interdisciplinarity can be considered a complex and fertile field of knowledge under construction. Despite being an issue that has been discussed and problematized more than five decades ago, its present, requires a permanent epistemological vigilance for the exploration of all forms of its critical and creative potential. The present essay has as its axis the analysis of the myths, as well as of the potentialities of interdisciplinarity, in the conceptual / theoretical plan and in the research and teaching practices. The reflection is based on the following question: what are the main myths present in the discourses concerning interdisciplinarity and what potentialities can be produced from your understanding? For that, through a theoretical analysis, it began with a reconstruction of the polysemy of the idea of interdisciplinarity, and of the myths present in the recurrent discourses that function as epistemological obstacles, which are: need to end the disciplines, everything can be studied in an interdisciplinary way, the meeting of experts characterizes the interdisciplinarity, qualified research is only interdisciplinary and there is a real interdisciplinarity; to later point out the critical-creative potential of interdisciplinarity, which consists in its vigilant opening to new ways of thinking and doing interdisciplinarity, provoking ruptures, continuities and innovations  methodological and epistemological.