‘Science’ and ‘Culture’ in University Settings. Areas of Overlap? Areas of Tension? Or, Areas of Mutual Complementarity?

On the one hand, ‘interdisciplinarity’ in all its formats, ranging from multi- to transdisciplinarity, has become the focal point of research agendas and a high priority of many funding bodies, while, on the other hand, universities by and large still remain discipline-oriented. This ‘tension’ is especially manifest between ‘science’ and ‘culture’ in the sense of bridging gaps between disciplines and research domains. The main roles of the Humanities and Social Sciences can be said to be the development of critical and independent thought, the identification and dissemination of important social and cultural values, as well as challenging widely held assumptions and beliefs. This article focuses on new ‘interpretations’ of knowledge seen as the fundamental link, which can, within university programmes, raise the awareness of the importance of the Humanities and Social Sciences on one hand, but, more importantly, also put into a much wider context the different ‘knowledges’ necessary for the contemporary understanding of how ‘science’ should be geared towards the individual, society, as well as the global community at large.*