User:Nicola.georgiou/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge/Seminar group 13/ History

Seminar Group 13 History Contributions = Introduction = This article addresses history in various disciplines. The focus remains on markers of a beginning of a discipline, and an end, if there is one, as well as paradigm shifts. Such markers include the creation and propagation of learned societies, academic publications, a form of teacher/student collaboration in the form of the establishment of a degree programme in university. Social values significantly influence the development of a discipline, even in disciplines that are deeply rooted in empirical methods, such as physics and mathematics. That is because certain individuals and groups hold power over the publication of knowledge, and not all members of society have the opportunity to be educated.

=History of Disciplines =

Archeology
Archeology is a scientific discipline which aims to study material remains of the past to try and gather historical information. Its chronological field extends from artifacts from the Stone Age to more recent objects. Archeological research could be done anywhere to discover all sorts of remains from buildings to human-made objects.

We could place the first archeological findings back to Mesopotamia and Egypt. One of the first known archeological text goes back to more than twenty-five centuries, those searches were led by the last Babylonian king, Nabonidus, reigning from 556 to 539 BC. He led excavations, restored temples but his most important work was the reconstruction of the temple built by Naram-Sin located in Harran. He was the first to take on archeological work.

Across the years some people kept taking interest in finding out about past cultures but until years later, with the antiquarianism movement it was not very common. Even then, it was still mostly a movement among wealthy and educated people that traveled a lot such as the scientist Shen Kuo (1031-1095) or the scholar Cyriacus of Ancona (1391-1455). Antiquarians collected artifacts to display in cabinets and analyse them to understand their past.

It was only later that archeology became a national initiative going from cabinets to museums with improved methods to date and preserve the remains. In the 1960’s the field expanded with universities creating more programs, giving funds for research… The teaching field was not the only one to be improved, the procedures and the scientific instruments (aerial photography, carbon-14 dating…) gained in precision. In the most recent years, the work done only gained in precision due to a desire to have a complete understanding of the past. Interpretation of the remains is based on a thorough process with the help of documentation, photographs, and scientific dating techniques.

Anthropology
Different orientations and methods in the history of anthropology

Anthropology, since its early ages, had the aim to be a discipline that studied humankind as a whole. However a duality between the social and life sciences can be observed throughout the history of anthropology. Indeed the Bartholins who were the first scholars to define it, described it in 1567 as a science which studies the humankind as a whole but separates the body (studied in Anatomy) from the soul (studied in Psychology).

Throughout history, a curiosity of discovering new peoples and civilizations existed. The literature of new discoveries, especially in the 15th and 16th century shows that humans have developed an interest in the study of other social groups.

The first anthropologists used to study human fist via an evolutionist approach; as many in most fields viewed progress as the aim of society. During the 19th century, this vision was of course reinforced by Darwin’s theory of evolution. At the same time the second branch of anthropology developed itself, starting earlier in Germany and in parallel with sociology. New approaches were explored, with the aim of distinguishing themselves from the natural sciences; showing how the uniqueness of humankind could be studied.

The establishment of the Society of Anthropology of Paris in 1859 by the French physician and anatomist Paul Broca could be considered as the beginning of anthropology as a discipline. It could indeed be the first time that the study of anthropology included all of its branches. Since then, some could say that anthropology has continued to develop to be a more inclusive discipline as most university nowadays offer to study its different fields together. Today, as Franz Boas observes it, the main focus of anthropologist seems to be the mental and physical health of human beings.

Chemistry
Chemistry is the study of the properties, compositions and structure of substances, their interactions, and associated chemical processes. Humans have always utilised chemical processes to their advantage, but the ever-increasing degree to which we understand these activities marks the progression of Chemistry as a field, and is what allows us to exploit and enhance such processes. Humans across all ages have participated in ‘chemistry:’ Indeed, fermenting food to make alcohol and fertilising soil to increase crop yield are merely two examples of how Chemistry contributed to the development of new practices that persist today.

Disciplinary Establishment
Yet the establishment of chemistry as a discipline began in the 17th century. Robert Boyle’s The Sceptical Chymist (1661) is an important marker in the development of the discipline, as it signals both a formalisation of the study of chemistry and the movement away from alchemy. Alchemy is a precursor to chemistry. The common goals of alchemists was to transmute common metals into silver and gold, and discover the elixir of life. Whilst these goals have not been fulfilled, the efforts made to reach them resulted in significant contributions to today’s understanding of chemistry.

Scientific Revolution
The scientific revolution encompasses a period between the 16th and 18th centuries defined by the emergence of modern science. Academic cooperation began increasing in the form of learned societies, experimental methods were improving, and papers were being published (like aforementioned The Sceptical Chymist, Boyle). The establishment of the the British Royal Society in 1660 is an important marker on the timeline of the growth of chemistry as a discipline. It is indicative of the growth of cooperation within the scientific community, and has served as a means of publishing scientific works. The establishment of a chemistry lab at the University of Oxford in 1860 is another marker of chemistry becoming a distinguished discipline, rather than a sub branch of physics, further legitimising it as a field of study.Later on we can also find the formalization of the study of Chemistry as a academic discipline that is taught at a university level in 1865, as professor Cyrus Warren leads the first class of organic chemistry at MIT.

Economics
The origins of the economic discipline in the western world can be found in ancient Greece. Great philosophers, most famously Aristotle, examined the acquisition and ownership of wealth and whether property should be owned privately or by the state.

Economics Today
The study of economics as we know it today, more specifically, our notion of the political economy, came into being during the 18th and 19th century with thinkers such as David Ricardo, Adam Smith, William Pitt the younger, Karl Marx, to name but a few, responding to the explosion of wealth and economic growth following the industrial revolution. Their respective publications, although often contradictory, provided frameworks for formalised economic analysis. More importantly, these works caused a paradigm shift: economics was no longer a subset of the more abstract discipline of philosophy, rather, it became the focus of policy makers and considered instrumental in understanding the behaviour and mechanics of society. This Classical economic era still plays a large role in the teaching of the discipline today, characterised by rational market theory, the free market economy and an emphasis on supply. Two major transitions in economic thought have occurred since: first, from the incumbent, laissez-faire paradigm to the post-war consensus, with the Keynesian doctrine rising to dominance. Second came the shift to neoliberalism. The inception and expansion of the neoliberalist movement can be attributed in part to the Mont Pèlerin Society (MPS). Founded in 1947, the small group of academics led by Friedrich Hayek sought to critique and provide an alternate economic standard to the mainstream post-war model. They explicitly emphasised need for an interdisciplinary approach to economics, drawing on concepts from the philosophical, historical, political disciplines and natural sciences. Only after the oil and currency shocks of the 1970s and 80s was the shift to neoliberal orthodoxy cemented as economists reverted to supporting reduced state intervention and lower barriers to trade.

Movements towards a new paradigm in Economics
The economic shocks, crises and resulting social divergences stemming from the mismanagement of neoliberalist economies have caused many to predict an imminent shift in the politico-economic paradigm. There is some evidence to support these predictions: staunch opponents of neoliberalism, economists like Mariana Mazzucato and Dani Rodrik, are gaining prominence in the public sphere; the work of academics awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in recent years has been distinctly outside neoliberal orthodoxy. There is no guarantee that this transition will occur but there is certainly pressure for major reform to take place within economics, both as an academic discipline and as it exists in civil society.

Eugenics
Eugenics – 'the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable' – established pseudo-scientific, racist, handicap-intolerant hierarchies of human beings, and then studied ways of efficiently eliminating so-called negative eugenics (Greek for "bad stock"). The aim was to cleanse 'the more suitable races' by such means as forced sterilisation and prohibition of mixed marriages. Advocates insisted eugenics was consistent with Darwin’s theory of natural selection, adopting the term “social Darwinism”.

Birth of the Discipline
The term was coined by British scientist Sir Francis Galton in 1883, and the first department was founded in 1904 with money bequeathed by Galton to UCL. Eugenics was rapidly embraced and put in practice by western academics and governments, nowhere more enthusiastically than in the still-segregated United States. In 1925, American biologist Charles Davenport founded the International Federation of Eugenics Organizations (IFEO). The practice of eugenics was applied with the full force of the state in Nazi Germany. Nazi scientist Karl Brandt theorised the existence of human sub-races threatening the “purity of the Aryan race”.

Deletion of the Discipline
After the horrors of WWII, eugenics as a discipline was banished from mainstream science, and gave way to new international norms such as universal human rights. But many of its advocates were folded into biology and anthropology programmes, and the concept – now more ideology than science – persisted.

Transformation and Resurgence of the Discipline?: the case of Genetic Engineering
New tools in genetic medicine and reproductive technology – such as CRISPR-cas9, a gene editing tool – have raised ethical questions that echo old debates around eugenics. The goal of fixing heritable genes to avoid disease or disability, for example, bleeds easily into arguments for enhanced human traits. The very possibility of identifying ‘defective' genes raises the spectre of what some scientist call "new eugenics" . One could also argue that discredited ideas from eugenics still influence attitudes towards race, and fuel discrimination.

Film Studies
Film studies is the academic discipline dedicated to the study theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to films. As a discipline, the study of film includes the analysis and exploration of the history of film, film genres, national cinemas, film criticism and analysis, and film theory. Furthermore, specifically in a academia film studies focus on the critical approaches for the analysis of production, theoretical framework, context, and creation of films. A form of plagiarism from the first sentence of the wikipedia article on film studies could be observed here. The combination of all these scholarly approaches within the discipline create what we know as Film theory, which is taught and studied often, especially in regards to the conflict between textual analysis of screenplay and Hollywood’s visual aesthetics. Film studies has less of a focus on filmmaking and is less concerned with advancing proficiency in film production than it is with exploring the narrative, artistic, cultural, economic, and political implications of the cinema.

Origins
Film studies as a academic discipline first began to appear after the birth of the medium itself and the creation of film technology in the late 18th century. However, film studies as a discipline only came into existence due to the creation of film theory and the writing of film historiography. This study of the discipline is not te be confused with the study of technical elements of film production. In the first two decades of motion pictures, a wide range of discussion about the medium had developed, at many levels of appreciation and analysis—newspaper reviews, professional trade periodicals, books on production technique, fan magazines, and gossip columns, among others. However, in the reality the fixation of film studies as an academic discipline came with the establishment of the Moscow Film School in 1919 with Russian filmmakers including Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Lev Kuleshov serving as faculty to disseminate their very distinct viewpoints on the purpose of film. Later on we see the apparition of many othe schools focusing on film, such as the United States the USC School of Cinematic Arts, created in agreement with Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In these early years, the discipline had the objective to develop and advance a rigorous theoretical and critical consideration of the forms, styles and themes found in cinema with particular focus on Hollywood cinema. As it originally derived from English Literature, the original teachings were characterized by a preoccupation with the text, the film, and with closer reading of its style and structure. Noteless, the difference between abstract theory and the practical approach to filmmaking was not implemented in cinema related curriculums at universities, as for example USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1932 was the first to offer a major in film in general.

Later on in the 1940s the French filmogie movement pushed forward the study of film, leading up to the intentions in 1950s to call the field “cinematology”. By the 1970s, film studies had become the most commonly used name for the discipline.

Genetics
The monk Gregor Mendel is considered to be the first geneticist, and as such the start of the discipline is attributed to the mid 19th century, around the time of his work. Mendel’s 1865 paper “Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden” detailed his experiments on Pisum plants and inheritance. Mendelian genetics was popular among horticulturalists, leading to an international conference in 1899 where speakers exchanged scientific papers and ideas. The term ‘genetics’ was first suggested by William Bateson in 1906 at the third international conference. Bateson recognised the importance of genetics not only in regards to plant breeding, but also human health, reflecting today’s modern approach to genetics.

History
History, as an academic discipline, is characterised by the use of narrative to critically describe, analyse and evaluate chronological sequences of past events.

Early History
The compilation of annals as chronological records of past events in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia is the first evidence of keeping historical records. Some consider these annals early histories; however, general consensus regards Herodutos, dubbed the “father of history” by Cicero, the first historian. Histories, from which the modern interpretation of the word ‘history’ is derived, is composed of nine books surveying the origins, causes and execution of the Greco-Persian wars (500-450 BCE). Herodutos’ pioneering proto-scientific approach– collecting materials and presenting them chronologically, was consolidated by his contemporary Thucydides, who aimed to establish a diagnostic science of history. Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War takes on a more rigid analytical approach, viewing the chronology of history as being casual and analysing the origins of events, constituting an early historical study.

Historiography
The “father of historiography” Ibn Kalhdun ’s Muqaddimah (1377) was a seminal work emphasising comparing and evaluating different historical accounts to not only record history but examine the world’s environments. His method incorporated criticism and observation to obtain greater historical accuracy, and stressed the importance of context. His philosophies marked the beginning of historiography, the study of the writing of history, which fundamentally underlies modern historical methods, governing a more critical and comprehensive study of historical sources.

Academic Study
The academic disciplinary formalisation of history only occurred in 18th century Germany. Notably, the study of history was pioneered in 1759 by Johann Christoph Gatterer, chairing history at the University at Göttingen. His project, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, created an edition of sources for studying Germany history, and he established a Historical Institute, an early form of seminar. Leopold von Ranke then became the first scholar to formally teach a historical seminar. During his 37 year term at the University of Berlin he established widely accepted critical methods of historical scholarship.

Rhetoric
The word Rhetoric is usually used to designate the art of successfully persuading or influencing a target audience with a spoken or written work, through the use of stylistic figures or figures of speech.

Origins
Some of the earliest examples of the use of rhetoric can be found in Akkadian literature, as early as the 22nd century BC, however, it is only around the 5th century BC that the first teachers of rhetoric, Protagoras (485-411 BC), Gorgias (Sicily, 485-375 BC) and Isocrates (436-338 BC) appeared in Athens.

Evolution from ancient Greece to the beginning of the 20th century
In ancient Greece, rhetoric was mainly used in political discourse, however, during the Middle Ages, rhetoric was predominantly used in a religious context. Preachers of the Church, such as St. Augustine, sought to use rhetoric in order to convert non-believers and believers of other religions in a more efficient way. From the Renaissance up until the beginning of the 20th century, rhetoric experienced a rebirth and rejuvenation as previous texts were studied anew and works dating from ancient Rome and Greece, such as Quintilian's De Inventione were used as textbooks in European Universities. When democratic ideals started spreading across the world, the main focus of rhetoric was brought back to the domain of politics, and in 19th century, universities started opening departments focused solely on the study of rhetoric.

Theology
Theology can be defined as the study of religion and religious belief. As an academic discipline theology was developed as early as the 11th century: in the later years of the century Anselm of Laon taught in Paris alongside William of Champeaux. He went on to found the cathedral school of Laon which attracted many pupils. Later on, theology became one of the first subject areas, along with the arts, law and medicine to be taught in higher education, as universities sprung up throughout Europe. By the late 13th century, the corpus for theology students in Oxford University had been elaborated and comprised of two main works: the Bible and the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Obtaining a doctorate in theology was a long process which often took over ten years: Duns Scotus, a prominent theologian and philosopher was awarded his from Oxford University in 1305. Subsequently, universities built architectural structures as a tribute to the growing importance of the discipline: in Oxford University, the Divinity School was built between 1427 and 1488.

Reformation
During the Reformation, the approach to theology underwent a considerable change: the arrival of nomalist thought encouraged the separation of the religious from the intellectual. This allowed the discipline to go beyond understanding and developing Christian teaching, that is to say, drawing emphasis to the theological meaning, and further encouraged scholars to interpret and draw new conclusions from their research. Indeed, they became more critical of texts and studied the historical context, hoping to ensure they attributed texts to their authentic authors. The study of theology has persisted throughout history and is a course offered in a myriad of universities across the world.

Where Theology and Law meet
Law is commonly defined as “the system of rules of a particular country, group or area of activity”. Concretely, it is what determines what is socially acceptable or not as it is explained in “How the Law works” by Gary Slapper and what allows social instances to maintain order by punishing any breach of the law. As condemning wrong actions is a spontaneous human behaviour, law in a way has always existed in human societies and the reference codes and rules were often found in religious texts such as Sharia or the Christian Canon law. In this perspective, Theology, discussed in the previous section, obviously covers how religious institutions and beliefs can rule societies and their “legal” systems. However, if these systems were close to the notion of law they should not be confused with the actual discipline of law.

How did law become an actual discipline ?
The Roman empire is commonly known as the first legal defined system including courts and orators (roughly the equivalent of lawyers) like Cicero(106-43 BC). However, an orator’s competence was only determined by their mastery of rhetoric(presented two sections above) and not any law degree. Law was not yet a discipline and it took a series of events for it to become one. The first school to teach law was the University of Bologna in the 12th century and it inspired most of European medieval societies to do the same. Over time, different legal professions emerged such as advocates or notaries. In the 13th century, British law practitioners who were disposed to teach gathered into the first legal society : the Inns of Court. One of its members was judge William Blackstone who was also the first man to obtain a law professorship at the University of Oxford in 1758. Since then, just like any discipline, law has morphed, specializing in different fields, which led to various types and scales of law (public, private, national, international law…), and tending to be the fairest and most objective possible. Social changes and the evolutions of mindsets have made ethics shape our legal systems according to trends towards gender equality or anti-rascism for instance. But as law has to take into account the current social context, it raises the question of the extent to which it can be objective considering each and everyone of its players are more or less involved in each cause.

Western Philosophy
“Philosophy, (from Greek, by way of Latin, philosophia, “love of wisdom”) the rational, abstract, and methodical consideration of reality as a whole or of fundamental dimensions of human existence and experience. Philosophical inquiry is a central element in the intellectual history of many civilisations.”

The Ancient era
The origin of western philosophy as a simple notion is often dated to Thales, a pre-Socratic philosopher who can be dated as a result of his prediction of an eclipse in the year 585 B.C. However as a discipline Western Philosophy originates within the Athenian school of philosophy with the academic study most prominent in Plato’s Academy and later within Aristotle’s Peripatetic school. This founding school of philosophical thought would go on to have lasting impact on the field and in particular on the formation of early Christian doctrine, "the safest general characterisation of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."

The Medieval era
Founded in this ancient Greek origin the discipline has been maintained through different forms, its most notable periods being divisible into the ancient, medieval and modern eras. During the medieval era, western philosophy adopted and was co-opted by the Judeo-Christian theological tradition, which through the development of the western world's first universities would develop the field and evolve toward a tradition of Scholasticism. Some of the more prominent philosophers from this period include: St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Anselm of Laon.

The Modern era
The last full period within western philosophy is modern philosophy, beginning with relevant figures such as Thomas Hobbes and René Descartes, this period is characterised heavily by the ideological process of the Enlightenment, which constituted a dramatic shift in philosophical thought, redirecting the established philosophical canon away from a theological perspective and toward schools such as existentialism, utilitarianism, pragmatism and phenomenology. As a discipline modern philosophy came to a head in Germany, as it was first country to affirm philosophy as a PhD subject during the 17th century and most notably appointed the philosopher Hegel to the position of Professor of the State in 1817.

The Contemporary era
Lastly there exists the present period, known as contemporary philosophy, which is distinguishable for building on the ideas prominent in modern philosophy while simultaneously developing a culture of professionalisation within the academic field.

=Paradigm Shifts in the History of Different Disciplines=

A Potential Paradigm Shift in Genetics
The late 20th century saw a shift in the discipline towards medical genetics due to developments in experimental and computer technology. The discovery of DNA structure by Watson and Crick in 1953, and later the polymerase chain reaction and sequencing techniques, were at the forefront of the shift from Mendelian genetics to molecular genetics. This could be considered the beginnings of a paradigm shift in the discipline, as some Mendelian ideas were replaced. For example, both qualitative and quantitative genetic traits are now equally considered, which caused a shift in considerations of genetic diseases. However, it is debated whether this is truly a paradigm shift or simply the field’s natural advancement as societal pressure for medical advancement increases.

Paradigm Shifts in Film Studies
The first most drastic change we see is with the court case between the U.S and Paramount, also known as the in 1948. This case brought to an end the vertical integration of the film industry giving rise to independent film makers. This causes the downfall of the studio systems moving away from the Hollywood productions and to a more artistic independent cinema, the trademark of the 1950s. However, this shift specifically affected the discipline of film studies as it presented a new forms of approaching films, this new perspective called auteur theory, which asserted film as the director's vision and art. This led to the full worldwide acceptance of film studies as an academic discipline in 1960s.

Later in the 1970’s we see a formation of a New Hollywood due to new wave of film-school-educated directors such Spielberg, Coppola, Bogdanovich etc. Furthermore we see the rise of larger budgets and special FX. To this we also add the global commercialization of the movie business due to the rise of the Homevideo market with the mainstream production of videotapes and later on DVD’s. All of these changes created an added interest in the field and with stable enrolment and proper budgets numerous universities contained the ability to offer distinct film studies programs. Finally this success of the first half of the twentieth century led to many important figures in the film industry investing in the same industry, as did George Lucas' by donating 175 million dollars to the USC School of Cinematic Artsin 2006.

Paradigm shift of the 20th century in Rhetoric
The Rhetoric discipline underwent a major shift in the 20th century, as film photography and television had become new powerful tools that could be used for persuasion. Consequently, in order to adapt to the societal progress caused by the emergence of new technologies, rhetoricians have sought to enlighten themselves on visual arts as much as they did on spoken and written language.

The Keynesian Revolution in Economics
Economics is a complex discipline, covering a very vast societal scope. Indeed, economics is a social science meant to study the production, distribution and consumption of wealth in our society. Throughout its history, economics as a discipline has changed and evolved a great number of times. However, the « Keynesian Revolution », as it was first referred to by Lawrence R. Klein in 1947, represents one of the greatest paradigm shifts in the history of the discipline.

The Keynesian revolution started in 1936, with the publications of British economist John Maynard Keynes’ « General Theory of Employment » and « Interest and Money ». These would bring about a massive shift in macro-economics. Keynes’ theory represented a clear separation with that time’s dominant economic paradigm, otherwise known as neo-classical economics.

At the time, economics would base their study on Say’s Law, which argued that it was needless for the government to intervene to help provide full employment. Instead, the free market itself would supply balanced general employment as long as workers would work for wages less important than their final production output. Keynes went against this framework, arguing that demand was actually the driving factor determining levels of employment, thus advocating for more government intervention to prevent severe unemployment. This shift in thought would not only work towards the refutation of Say's law, but also formed a criticism of all traditional economics, and in particular economic liberalism and invisible hand theories of Adam Smith, a key philosopher and economist of the enlightenment

Keynes’ theories were quickly integrated and became a strong basis in economics with the help of economist John Hicks. The Keynesian revolution quickly had a very significant impact on not only academic economics but also the organisation of the world. Indeed, the practical dimension of Keynes’ theories can be studied in very important policy decision making later on, such as the Bretton Woods conference of 1944 or even the New Deal policies under Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the United States.

= Relationship Between History and Different Disciplines =

History and International Relations
International Relations is, arguably, an interdisciplinary discipline. It draws knowledge from and makes connections between multiple subject areas including history, economics, political science, and geography. History in particular has allowed scholars of the discipline to develop a deeper understanding of the subject. For instance, the culture and structure of countries can be better understood through the study of their histories. It is easier to grasp how today’s international systems function when viewed from the perspective of world history. In addition, scholars are able to identify the causes of political events as well as explain how they came to be when they are equipped with this historical context. This in turn aids the development of theory in international relations. Also, an understanding of the amplification versus silencing of various groups in history is necessary to truly grasp the factors that shape current events. It is important to consider who is able to voice their narrative to try and avoid (as much as possible) confirming biases and ignoring minorities.

The knowledge gained from studying international relations through a historical lens has many applications. Policy makers have the capacity to make more reasonable and perceptive decisions due to a more comprehensive understanding of an event. For scholars, it means they are less quick to judge political figures as they can appreciate and acknowledge the sacrifices, obstacles and other complexities that these individuals face. Historian Kim Salomon highlights that by studying the past and gaining a deeper understanding of current issues, the potential for a better future is enabled by evaluating the different approaches to tackling similar issues.

History in international relations is not only about understanding historical context, it is also about the approach to viewing history. Lawson and Hobson examined the four modes of history in international relations: history without historicism, historicist historical sociology, radical historicism, and traditional history. These modes vary in generality and the way they view history. As a result, the way one understands international relations is heavily influenced by the mode of history employed.

The Importance of History to Genetics
The study of history within genetics is highly important in order to prevent the rise of ideologies such as eugenics and the abuse of genetic ideas such as during the Nazi regime. In order to understand the circumstances in which such cases arise and prevent future occurrences, genetic history must be considered in a modern context. Some ‘eugenic’ ideas may still remain in medical genetics today ; this shows the impact of history on the discipline and further highlights the need for its study. Considering the history of genetics is important for setting ethical guidelines in future genetic work, this is a major societal concern.

= Conclusion = In this article phenomenon of history has been discussed through the analysis of different disciplines and how these originated as an academic field of study where knowledge in that field is taught and researched. Disciplines, we have concluded are a product of society and thus are determined and changed due to social interaction with the subject matter. Thus the discussion had by the collective of intellectuals form what we know as the knowledge framework for each discipline. However, as has been clearly shown in many examples mentioned in this article, this knowledge framework isn’t fixed, but forms a fluid mosaic that can loose parts and gain new information, as well as modify itself, it even has the ability divide and split to form new knowledge frameworks creating categories within the disciplines or even completely new disciplines. In line with this idea of fluidity, a clear issue that has been exposed with the history of disciplines is in the idea of paradigm shift. We can conclude that this idea of paradigm shift is essential and needed for the advancement of history and the forward evolution of knowledge in all of the disciplines. We can also find that the new emerging paradigm causing the shift of focus in subject matter is a part of the history of each discipline that has effects in other issues, regarding the evidence, truth and power in that discipline.

Simultaneously, we can see how the formalization of disciplines that is described multiple times for each specific discipline allows for the discussion of history as a more tangible concept, and thus as has been made clear through the discussion, allows for better understanding of the disciplines and how they interacts between them. It also allows for comparison between them, which is yet another important factor that an interdisciplinary perspective allows and in some way requires. .

= References =