Table of Contents

1. Introduction

Part I: Antinomies of Mainstream Interdisciplinarity

2. Overview of the Contemporary Literature

3. Contemporary Ways to Justify Interdisciplinarity

Part II: A Critical Realist General Theory of Interdisciplinarity

4. Core Concepts of Critical Realism

5. Critical Realism and Social Science

6. The Ontological Case for Interdisciplinarity

7. The Seven Steps to a Deeper Understanding of Ontology

8. Critical Realism and the Alternative Metatheories/Methodologies

Part III: Applied Interdisciplinary Research

9. Biophysical Interventions Are Not Enough: the Hidden (Holistic) Healing Ensemble

10. The Seven Enigmas of Healing

11. The Biopsychosocial Approach, with Special Reference to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health

12. The Practical Organization of Interdisciplinary Co-operation

13. Understanding Methodological Imperialism

14. Interdisciplinarity in Action: Explaining the Epidemiology of HIV

15. Concluding Considerations

About the Author

Centre for Critical Realism, London, UK Orebro University, Sweden

Reviews

This book is the definitive critical realist account, in accessible prose, of what science must do to maximize its understanding of the world, and in particular human wellbeing and flourishing.Mervyn Hartwig, editor and principal author of Dictionary of Critical Realism