Integrative Praxes: Learning from Multiple Knowledge Formations

After adopting and extending the “test of truth as effective action” that Newell proposes in “A Theory of Interdisciplinary Studies,” this article proposes “living well” as the goal of knowledge processes. With this in mind, it explores disciplinarity—the unspoken assumption underlying Newell’s argument. Disciplinarity is discovered to be an historical and cultural phenomenon, demonstrating the partial and situated character of all knowledge formations, rather than a privileged site of especially valid knowing. Alternatives are offered to the notions of interdisciplinarity and discipline. Integrative praxes (the alternative to interdisciplinarity) are practices, informed by theory and differentiated by existential situation, aimed at living well. Knowledge formations (the alternative to disciplines) are both bodies of knowledge and processes of coming to know that contain within themselves dynamic patterns from which they have been generated and by which they will be transformed. They are ecological, developing in relation with other developing entities and composed in part of material and structures taken from them. The proposal is that living well is best served by seeking integrative praxes that learn from multiple knowledge formations and fostering ongoing conversation among these praxes.