TY - JOUR
T1 - “The human use of human beings”: Interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity and all that in biophysics and beyond
AU - Termini, Settimo
AU - Tabacchi, Marco Elio
AU - Tabacchi, Marco Elio
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Biophysics, just by looking at its name, indicates an interdisciplinary scientific activity, although the notion of interdisciplinarity, as such, seems to be not widely or specifically discussed by biophysicists. The same seems to have happened as well in the early stages of the development of cybernetics, notably in Norbert Wiener's writings. This situation seems to contrast with what has happened in subsequent developments of cybernetics ideas, notably in general system theory and cognitive sciences. After a few general reflections on the notion of interdisciplinarity, its sophisticated variants and the path leading to the birth of cognitive science, we shall refer to Wiener's thought to extracts aspects and indications that could be useful today, also for what concerns the social responsibility of scientists, which could be seen as stemming from a very general form of interdisciplinarity. Highlights: After a few general reflections on the notion of interdisciplinarity, its sophisticated variants and the path leading to the birth of cognitive science, we shall refer to Wiener's thought to extracts aspects and indications that could be useful today, also for what concerns the social responsibility of scientists.
AB - Biophysics, just by looking at its name, indicates an interdisciplinary scientific activity, although the notion of interdisciplinarity, as such, seems to be not widely or specifically discussed by biophysicists. The same seems to have happened as well in the early stages of the development of cybernetics, notably in Norbert Wiener's writings. This situation seems to contrast with what has happened in subsequent developments of cybernetics ideas, notably in general system theory and cognitive sciences. After a few general reflections on the notion of interdisciplinarity, its sophisticated variants and the path leading to the birth of cognitive science, we shall refer to Wiener's thought to extracts aspects and indications that could be useful today, also for what concerns the social responsibility of scientists, which could be seen as stemming from a very general form of interdisciplinarity. Highlights: After a few general reflections on the notion of interdisciplinarity, its sophisticated variants and the path leading to the birth of cognitive science, we shall refer to Wiener's thought to extracts aspects and indications that could be useful today, also for what concerns the social responsibility of scientists.
KW - 20th Century; Humans; Biophysics; Biochemistry; Organic Chemistry
KW - Biophysics; Cybernetics; Interdisciplinarity; Wiener; Biophysics; Cybernetics; History
KW - 20th Century; Humans; Biophysics; Biochemistry; Organic Chemistry
KW - Biophysics; Cybernetics; Interdisciplinarity; Wiener; Biophysics; Cybernetics; History
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10447/314548
UR - http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bpc
M3 - Article
VL - 229
SP - 165
EP - 172
JO - Biophysical Chemistry
JF - Biophysical Chemistry
SN - 0301-4622
ER -