Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities

Abstract With due attention to growing need of countries for energy resources, new and diverse topics in the field of law and energy have been designed that strengthen extensive interdisciplinary studies and researches in this field. The legal dimension of the exploitation of energy types, including the protection of the environment, foreign investment, and the creation of legal mechanism at domestic and international levels, energy security, and other issues of countries necessitates interdisciplinary studies and the publication of legal researches related to energy substantially. Energy Law is one of the interdisciplinary majors that have been taken into consideration in faculties of several countries, including Australia, England, the United States, and Canada. The fact that Energy Law as a major can itself be under other specialized courses which increase its value as an academic field and it can be said that the establishment of "Energy Law" as an interdisciplinary major, considering its scope and content in the curriculum of the faculty of law of other countries, including Iran, is undeniable. This article tries to provide an appropriate context for energy law as an interdisciplinary major to the students of law and other related disciplines.  For this purpose, in addition to explaining the concept, characteristics and status of energy, we will examine the principles, elements and levels of this major.

Abstract Development of interdisciplinary sciences is a multidimensional issue, thus paying attention to the mechanism, capacities and obstacles for realization of developing these sciences is a complicated task to be done. Generalizing this matter is not possible and mentioning some topics is the only thing to do as it is not common among all sciences whatever is proposed in this scope. And even the possessed in common increases in a specific area, there happen the differences case by case. These complexities deepen widely while the interdisciplinary sciences are the result of two or more different areas ‘likeness. In this study it has been tried to investigate this matter in humanities. The term interdisciplinary is often used with prudence and is usually substituted by the terms “multidisciplinary integration “and “interdisciplinary integration” which in this study we try to use it prudently. It has been some decades that orientation course is dominated in worldwide campuses which focuses on proficiency and benefits and these are just the specialists or experts of a specific course who are allowed to study and theorize it. Because of complex societies and diversity of the issues, this method’s inefficiency has been revealed more in these recent years; and it is considered as the most important basis of interdisciplinary prevalence. Of course perception and better and more perfect recognition of phenomena are also a good motive for propagation of these studies. By the term interdisciplinary studies, the process of different scientific courses’ involving in replying a question, solving a problem or laying an issue is meant which is not possible to be studied by a certain major since it is so complicated. In efficient interdisciplinary studies each scientific major is used as a reliable source of information in scale. It is indeed a matrix-approach in different sciences’ utilization system, so these studies not only reach to new sciences by combination of information but also will provide a perfect perception of similarities and differences among majors. The difference in assumptions, points of views, procedures, language and technical terms of each major and cognitive obstacle in humans are the problems which limit the usage of these sciences. Here in this study the indication of importance and necessity of researchers’ extension in humanities and universities go first, then the concept of interdisciplinary researches and its conditions to be done is described(implementations’ obstacles of these studies and the ways to overcome them are proposed). 

Abstract It is just human being who can understand Transformation, and accept it to maintain the status quo. Communication is the main device for transformation. Man accepts communication and transformation in order to use them in maintaining his/her integrity. Formulating and modeling sciences through invention of new fields, interdisciplines, and disciplines, communication and information technologies help prepetuation of human life, especially according to the environmental matters. Communication is itself transformed simultaneously in relation and in proportion to these transformations.

Abstract Different developments including technological growth and increased human problems made interdisciplinary cooperation inevitable. On the other hand, traditional attitude to academic fields and specialization has prevented higher education from creating necessary capacities to confront those development and face new challenges. Therefore, one of the necessities of higher education is to foster interdisciplinary skills in both educational and research fields. This paper reviews concepts of educational courses and interdisciplinary in higher education with emphasis on the need to foster interdisciplinary thinking as prerequisite of all kinds of interdisciplinary activities. Then “issue-based learning’ has been described because this new educational method enjoys many capacities to promote interdisciplinary skills. In conclusion, a special model of issue-based learning called “interdisciplinary problem solving model” has been briefly explained as an applied model for educational courses.

Abstract Philosophers have divided philosophy into general and special categories and believe that special philosophy deals with components of life. The selected viewpoint as to the quality of philosophy is that it deals with different features of human self. This definition allows us to discuss, on a wide scale, all kinds of combined philosophies that attend to realities. One of those combined philosophies is the philosophy combined with sciences with a historical and logical approach, which is also known as gate-keeping theory, which allows the researcher to take a secondary approach to external questions of sciences and discover the relationship between different scientific disciplines. That discovery not only answers questions related to combined philosophy and external scientific questions, but also turns into the most important method for discovery and establishment of interdisciplinary sciences, especially if we considered science as a common axis to which certain rules and features apply. This paper, tries to first provide a definition of choice for the modern Islamic knowledge as well as the quality and types of combined philosophy and a standard theory to claim that a combined philosophical approach to sciences or gate-keeping theory is the most important method to discover interdisciplinary sciences and that we must not stop at interdisciplinary sciences that have been thus far discovered.