Second-person Perspective in Interdisciplinary Research: A Cognitive Approach for Understanding and Improving the Dynamics of Collaborative Research Teams

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2021.023

Keywords

interdisciplinary research, epistemic pluralism, intellectual collaborative work, social cognition, joint attention, second-person relatedness

Abstract

In this paper, we argue that to reverse the excess of specialization and to create room for interdisciplinary cross-fertilization, it seems necessary to move the existing epistemic plurality towards a collaborative process of social cognition. In order to achieve this, we propose to extend the psychological notion of joint attention towards what we call joint intellectual attention. This special kind of joint attention involves a shared awareness of sharing the cognitive process of knowledge. We claim that if an interdisciplinary research team aspires to work collaboratively, it is essential for the researchers to jointly focus their attention towards a common object and establish a second-person relatedness among them. We consider some of the intellectual dispositions or virtues fostered by joint intellectual attention that facilitate interdisciplinary exchange, and explore some of the practical consequences of this cognitive approach to interdisciplinarity for education and research.

Author Biography

Claudia E. Vanney, Universidad Austral, Argentina

Instituto de Filosofía, Directora

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2021-08-29

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1.
VANNEY, Claudia E. and AGUINALDE SÁENZ, J. Ignacio. Second-person Perspective in Interdisciplinary Research: A Cognitive Approach for Understanding and Improving the Dynamics of Collaborative Research Teams. Scientia et Fides. Online. 29 August 2021. Vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 155-178. [Accessed 23 November 2024]. DOI 10.12775/SetF.2021.023.

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Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021): Experimental Psychology and the Notion of Personhood

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