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Donald T. Campbell on the institutions of scientific knowledge and the limits to interdisciplinarity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2022

Geoffrey M. Hodgson
Geoffrey M. Hodgson*
Affiliation:
Loughborough University London, Stratford, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: g.hodgson2@lboro.ac.uk
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Abstract

Extracts from an important article by the American psychologist, philosopher and social scientist Donald T. Campbell are reproduced here, with an introduction underlining the importance of his argument for today. Campbell identified disciplinary boundaries as enablers of specialization but often barriers to scientific innovation and shared knowledge. But instead of unbounded interdisciplinarity, Campbell argued for focused specialisms that cross disciplinary boundaries. This argument is particularly relevant for the development of institutional research in the future.

Keywords

Donald T. Campbellethnocentrism of disciplinesinterdisciplinarity
Type
Fragment
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 18 , Issue 6 , December 2022 , pp. 969 - 980
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Millennium Economics Ltd.

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