INTERDISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

From its earliest times education has had a disciplinary basis. Aristotle's works, for example, exhibited a systematic survey of Greek knowledge under clearly defined categories and divisions, disciplinary in nature. The tendency to organize knowledge in this way has persisted down to the present. In recent times, however, counter-reactions to the increasing fragmentation and specialization of knowledge have occurred. Current trends include the establishment of undergraduate instruction in general education and broader fields for postgraduate study. Increasingly, colleges and universities offer courses transcending the boundaries of traditional departments to provide a more comprehensive viewpoint for the understanding of intellectual and social problems. Teaching programs in the liberal arts and sciences alike are frequently developed aiong interdisciplinary 1ines, and students now have opportunities to embark on entire courses of study free of the restrictions of orientation to single departments. In the area of research, new forms of cooperation are emerging both within and outside the ordinary departmental structures. In government and industry, research teams are assembled whose members are drawn from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Within the universities, divisional administrative and organizational structures have replaced departmental ones in some academic institutions, and journals catering to less specialized intellectual and academic interests have been founded