On the Ontology of Multidisciplinary Epistemic Groups
Creators: name: Kherroubi Garcia, Ismael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Philosophy
subject: FOS: Philosophy, ethics and religion
subject: Ontology
subject: Metaphysics
subject: Epistemology
subject: Science
subject: Research Management
subject: Epistemic humility
subject: Multidisciplinarity

description: In section one, I outline developments in the social epistemology of science. With this, I locate my thesis in the philosophy of interdisciplinarity, and provide a definition for <em>multidisciplinarity</em>. In section two, I argue for multidisciplinary epistemic groups as meeting the requisites for Gilbert’s <em>plural subjects</em>. In section three, I introduce some academic norms that emphasise the importance of individuals’ incentives within academia. In section four, I propose that Bratman’s theory of joint action can help make sense of individualistic desires in ontologically irreducible groups. I find that Bratman’s theory does not account for groups that do not share background assumptions. Thus, in section five, I argue for a further tool for multidisciplinary epistemic groups to form some “social glue” that helps them overcome the challenges posed by academic norms. I argue that <em>social epistemic humility </em>promotes epistemic trust in a way that is conducive to this objective. Finally, I introduce and respond to two objections to my thesis.
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