Walking at the edge of social and biomedical sciences: a fascina ng yet tricky trek!

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Walking at the edge of Social Sciences and Biomedical sciences

A fascina5ng yet tricky trek!

Introduc5on

Complex health problems call for interdisciplinarity. However, major divides remain between disciplines, resul<ng in

projects being split into work-packages, mostly running in silos. This communica<on proposes elements to analyse this

divide, calling for dialogue to increase added value of interdisciplinarity.

Nicolas ANTOINE-MOUSSIAUX

1

_{, Stéphane LEYENS}

2

_{, Séverine THYS}

3

_{, Aurélie BINOT}

4

1_{Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Belgium;}2 _{Faculty of Science, Dept of Sciences, Philosophy and Socie<es,}

University of Namur, Belgium;3_{Dept Public Health, Ins<tute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium;}4_{UMR ASTRE, CIRAD, France}

Diﬀerent

views of

quality in

science

Representa<vity

and parcimony

Decontextualized

repeatable

tes<ng

_Context-rich

meaningful

interpreta<on

Popula<on studies

_{Social science}

Life science

Knowledge originates

in scien<ﬁc research

and ﬂows to the

people

Social science

enables compliance

of lay people

Instrumentaliza<on

Knowledge is built,

thus value-laden

and context-dependent

Social science

includes scien<sts

as research objects

Bump<ous rela<vism

Misunderstanding & Crossed accusa5ons

Misses the

complexity

Lacks

general

truth value

Perspec5ves

There is a need for epistemological content in basic, specialized and research curricula. Scien<sts should not discover

epistemological and cultural divides inside science from barriers to interdisciplinary collabora<on but be trained to it and

count it among their day-one skills. Recurrent opportuni<es for cross-fer<liza<on should be given to young scien<sts

inside research ins<tu<ons. These needs also apply to all professionals of health prac<ce and policy.

Dialogue needs mutual conﬁdence and avoiding a priori value judgments. This is probably the most challenging part in a

scien<ﬁc world where prevail the high self-esteem of disciplines and harsh compe<<on for recogni<on and funding.

Fuzzy fron5ers and poten5al bridges

Popula<on studies

Quan<ta<ve

Qualita<ve

Pathology, Gene<cs, Infec<ology, Epidemiology Economics, Sociology Anthropoloy Psychology Philosophy ...

About objec<vity

Basic epistemology for dialogue

Reduc<onism and holism

Posi<onal objec<vity may be proposed as an intermediate posi<on between a blind belief in objec<vity and an overall nega<on of its possibility. An objec<ve observa<on is one that is common to a set of observers. Complexity explains divergence between dis<nct perspec<ves on a same object. Complexity theory highlights problems in knowledge rather than it provides solu<ons. It invites to con<nuous and itera<ve round-trip between both holism and reduc<onism. Its main jus<ﬁca<on les in the proper<es of complex systems: emergent features and non-linear interac<ons resul<ng in par<al unpredictability.

Status of truth and aptness to reach it

The self-challenging scien<ﬁc method is proposed as a way to come closer to an exis<ng reality. Karl Popper’s falsiﬁca<on principle does not apply in the same way to hypothe<co-deduc<vist and interpreta<ve frameworks. Some social scien<sts may defend a full rela<vism. Methodological rigor and transparency ul<mately links these divergent frameworks.