Ekologia interdyscyplinarności w świetle amerykańskiej debaty o nauce w dobie Trumpa oraz COVID-19
The Ecology of Interdisciplinarity in View of the American Debate on Science in Times of Trump and COVID-19

Author(s): Jan Miernowski
Subject(s): Anthropology, Cultural history, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: academic freedom; interdisciplinarity; American Association of University Professors; “war on science”; political correctness; alternative facts; climate change denial; “pluriverse”; Donald Trump
Summary/Abstract: This article highlights the limitations of disciplinary approaches to science and scholarship. Such limitations are painfully visible when academic freedom is under attack, as was the case during the so-called “war on science” conducted by the Trump administration. Because of their disciplinary nature, many defense mechanisms deployed in defense of academic freedom proved to be of limited efficiency. Such was the case with the 2020 declaration of the American Association of University Professors, as well as Judith Butler’s descending opinion on this declaration. As an alternative, I point to Bruno Latour’s ecologically inspired conception of interdisciplinarity. Latour’s interdisciplinary thinking is based on three principles: the metaphysic of “pluriverse,” the politics of “compositionism,” and the epistemology of “translation.” I consider Latour’s interdisciplinarity to be an efficient tool in engaging the world of politics and ecology within and outside academia.

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