User:Nicola.georgiou/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge/Seminar group 16/ History

Introduction

A discipline can be defined as a field of study, where a specific strain of knowledge is researched and taught usually within an academic setting. The origins of a discipline can often be confused with the origins of the subject matter itself. In the case of English literature as a discipline, people may often assume that because the first display of English literature began in 800 C.E., this marked the beginnings of English literature as a discipline. Subject matter and the discipline of that subject matter should not be used interchangeably. As English literature became a discrete entity no longer seen as just a social medium, it’s transfer to an academic setting made it capable of being researched and taught. Within any discipline there is a huge range of potential answers. Ultimately it is a formalised network of intellectuals operating on a sort of shared conception of a subject matter. Disciplines are the products of people interacting about subject matter, and they exist within the societies, thus social changes are reflected within disciplines.

The markers of a discipline can often be seen in a formalised teacher-student relationship, establishment of departments within a degree programme, publications or society establishments as markers of the discipline’s existence, and most importantly a set of parameters as the basis of all activities within a discipline. Also, paradigm shift is commonly observed as disciplines develop with time, in other words, referring to get upsurge of evidence that doesn’t fit within that paradigm, causing disruption to some extent, then have a new paradigm emerging, eventually shifting to new approaches or new focus on the subject matter.

History of Disciplines: Emergence of Economics and the Reemergence of Political Economy

Introduction

Economics is one social science which studies how people’s unlimited needs and wants could be satisfied by scarce resources. Modelling based on assumptions is one of its distinctive methodological tools. Actually in the early stage, “Economics” was called “political economy”, which originated from philosophy, but experienced demise for long centuries following the beginning of “Economics” as a separate discipline. Later, political economy reemerges and evolves into a degree programme.

Emergence of Economics

Political economy once studied trade, the production and distribution of wealth, and their relations with government, political institutions and law at a national level. However, after Alfred Marshall’s book, Principles of Economics was published in 1890, and more intensive use of mathematical modelling in approaches, the paradigm change happened. Its was replaced by “Economics”, which emerged as a new discipline—a science with more precision, with increased dominance of mathematical knowledge (geometry) in models and analysis compared to previous “comprehensive vision”.

The construction of mathematical economics models simplifies the complex relationship between two variables, thus enables economists to meaningfully make grounded and testable assumptions. Also, graphing is a good technique to visualise the changes in market situations and for future prediction. The rise of Econometrics is even stimulated.

Reemergence of political economy

Economics and Politics in practice, however, cannot be approached in isolation. Re-introduction of political consideration and political science knowledge into Economics brings the increased role of political economy, a widely accepted interdisciplinary approach. It is helpful to understand socio-economic changes and issues confronting the modern society. It is especially valuable for the development of macroeconomics. For example, it studies the relationship between power and resource allocation in different types of economic systems, hence facilitates the process of making public policies which would not be achieved if being “brilliant at esoteric mathematics yet innocent of actual economic life”.

History of Disciplines: Medical Ethics

Introduction to Medical Ethics

“Ethics is not definable, is not implementable, because it is not conscious; it involves not only our thinking, but also our feeling” - Valdemar W. Setzer, professor at São Paulo University. Ethics can be described as systems of morals. It is fundamental in many disciplines, such as medicine. The sub-discipline of medical ethics has been historically dynamic, how?

The Historical Emergence of Medical Ethics

Babylonian law from 1800 BCR states what could be medical ethics. The law declares that a medic who killed a patient would have both hands cut off. This law might not fully be based on ethical thinking, but it is the earliest known document limiting a physician’s exercise based on the patient’s wellbeing, which is how medical ethics would develop.

1300 years later, the Greek medic Hippocrates presented an oath that, inter alia, promises not to harm patients or to assist suicide or abortion. Hippocrates’ oath was not replaced until 1803 when physician Tomas Percival published Medical Ethics. Percival’s book is the first to mention ”medical ethics”. It is possible to claim that a discipline does not exist until it holds publications. Thus, it could be argued that Percival’s work founded the sub-discipline of medical ethics.

Percival created the medical ethics of the 19th and 20th centuries. However, during this time, social changes, such as human experiments in Nazi Germany, affected medical ethics. The following trials of the experimenters resulted in the Nuremberg Code stating ethics of human experimentation. The code mentions voluntary participation and the benefit to risk ratio, inter alia.

4 Modern Principles of Medical Ethics

In Tom Beauchamp's text Principles of Biomedical Ethics published in 1979, 4 main principles of Bioethics were identified. The right to autonomy, the principle of non-maleficence, the principle of justice and lastly, the principle of beneficence. These principles, while subject to change, are still considered important in modern healthcare practices.

Medical Ethics and Future Evolvement

After the Nuremberg code, the concept of medical ethics evolved. Today, patient’s rights are advancing and the ethics of Hippocrates are being questioned in areas of abortion and euthanasia. This shows the importance of dynamic disciplines in a dynamic world.

History of Disciplines: Anthropology as a Discipline and the Paradigm Shift of the Anthropological Method

Origin of the Discipline

The origin of anthropology, derived from the Greek word anthrōpos meaning “humankind”, traces back to ancient Greece. Acknowledged as one of the world’s first practices of ethnography, Greek historian Herodotus travelled between Greece and Persia during the 5th century to understand the internal conflicts between the two societies, noting the cultural and societal infrastructure of the societies he encountered in detailed accounts.

Modern anthropology emerged in 18th century Europe where scholars and intellectuals were partaking in the greater cultural movement, the ‘Age of Enlightenment’. This era focused on advancing society and knowledge by understanding the fundamentals of human behaviour. It was not until the 19th century, however, that anthropology as a discipline came to be, seeing anthropologists teaching and researching at academic institutions. Additionally between 1839 and 1869 anthropological societies were established in various European and North American cities, advocating for interdisciplinary use of anthropological knowledge in political and commercial spheres.

Guidelines of the Discipline

As anthropology as a discipline gained momentum, five subfields were distinguished: physical/biological, archaeological, linguistic, and applied anthropology. While these departments can be interdisciplinary and overlap, differing fieldwork methods and approaches differentiate them.

Paradigm Shift Within the Anthropological Approach

The traditional focus of Anthropology was the unbiased observations of exotic societies, ones often subject to colonial rule; ethnography often became a method of colonialism. Often an interdisciplinary approach would be taken, looking to sociology and psychology in order to better convert these “savage” societies. In the 20th century, the German-American anthropologist Franz Boas argued that positionality should be integral to the practice of anthropology and fieldwork, where one observes and understands the practices of another culture through the context of their own culture. With the demise of colonisation and anthropological study in developing countries, reminders of a dark colonial past, anthropology has been forced to evolve due to dynamic social pressures allowing for a more diverse cultural selection of study.

History of Disciplines: Pharmacology and one of its Subdisciplines

Origins of Pharmacology

For thousands of years, pharmacological knowledge has been recorded. Ancient medical manuals from as early as 6th century B.C. included ancient prescriptions from the Han Dynasty, with ingredients such as the eastern herb Artemisia annua L. (wormwood) used to treat fevers in China.

Modern pharmacology, however, began in the 19th century after a paradigm shift regarding the understanding of pharmaceutical treatments. Physiologists back then performed many pharmacologic studies, such as Francois Magendie’s study of the action of nux vomica (a plant drug) on dogs. Although he presented his work to the Paris Academy in 1809, the actual emergence of pharmacology as a separate scientific discipline was not until 1847, when its first university position was established with the appointment of Rudolf Buchheim as professor of pharmacology at the University of Dorpat in Estonia. However, his student, Oswald Schmeideberg, is generally recognized as the founder of modern pharmacology. He obtained his medical doctorate in 1866 studying the measurement of chloroform in blood.

The Emergence of Behavioural Pharmacology

Fast forward to the 1950’s, when pharmacology already had many subdisciplines such as psychopharmacology. At the time, drugs were developed and introduced that were effective in treating many psychiatric disorders with chlorpromazine and imipramine, among others. A central theme of research at the time also focused on the effects of drugs on emotional states. Hence, it was then that Peter Dews published his first major finding from the Psychobiology Laboratory of Harvard in 1955 that described how specific behaviours could be modified by drugs. This was followed by studies by Roger Kelleher and William Morse in 1964, resulting in new principles on the relationship between drugs and behaviour. Therefore, behavioural pharmacology was birthed at the hands of Dews, Kelleher, and Morse, at the Psychobiology Laboratory of Harvard. Following their time in the mid 20th century, progress in related disciplines and advances in new technologies have continued to put emphasis on the subdiscipline of behavioural pharmacology.

History of Forensic Science: The Use of Fingerprint Classification and Identification in the Conviction of Criminals

History of Forensic Science

Forensic Science is known as the application of scientific techniques and methods in judiciary procedures, where evidence is collected and analysed to aid in matters of criminal investigations. The history of Forensic Science can be traced back to Alexandria in 300 B.C. where the first known autopsies were carried out however, Forensic Science can be said to have emerged as a discipline starting around 1909 when the Institut de police scientifique was founded by Archibald Reiss, this being the first institute of forensic science. Following this, more forensic laboratories and schools started to emerge, with the FBI opening its Scientific Crime Detection laboratory in 1932 the American Academy of Forensic Science’s foundation in 1948 and the establishment of one of the first criminology department at the University of California, Berkeley in 1950.

Forensic Science and Fingerprint Analysis

The introduction of fingerprint analysis as a method of identification created a paradigm shift in the way evidence was collected and revolutionised the manner in which criminals were convicted, allowing for a much higher degree of accuracy than the previous Bertillon method, previously employed in the forensic field.

In 1879, after the rise of photographical evidence, Alphonse Bertillon, a French criminologist created the Bertillon method where photographs of suspects/criminals would be analysed, and measurements would be taken of specific, supposedly unique, anatomical features. This information was then stored in police galleries and was believed to suffice as evidence for convictions.

Fingerprint analysis started to emerge in 1892 after Sir Francis Galton published a text on fingerprint identification, Finger Prints, which prompted Sir Richard Henry to develop a system of fingerprint identification in India and Juan Vucetich to also create a fingerprint system in Argentina in the same year. This along with the William and Will West case caused the Bertillon system to become obsolete. Eventually, this led to the conviction of Harry Jackson through the use of fingerprint identification in the United Kingdom in 1902.

History of Disciplines: The Emergence and Derision of Herbalism

The Emergence of Herbalism

Plants have always been the foundation of the human diet — it is therefore unsurprising that we have come to utilise its medicinal benefits. Herbalism is defined as "the study or practice of the medicinal and therapeutic use of plants" . The earliest instance of herbalism, dates back to the Paleolithic age, around 60,000 years ago. Subsequent to this was in 3000 BC Mesopotamia where clay tablets, onto which numerous medicinal plants were transcribed, were discovered . Evidently, each region has adopted its own form of this practice, exploiting endemic plant species. Other notable examples include Galen in Ancient Greece and the Grete Herball in 1526, the first herbal .

Herbalism as a Discipline

The word discipline is defined as "a branch of knowledge, typically one studied in higher education". Herbals are canonical evidence of (primeval) herbal medicine, and some therefore may say herbalism was adopted as a discipline when herbals emerged, whilst to others it became a discipline in the Paleolithic age when it was thought to be first practiced. There are records of herbal medicine apprenticeships in Medieval times , which could have been considered a form of higher education then. Moreover, some may argue it never developed into a discipline, and remains a sub-discipline of Pharmacology as it would only become a discipline after it is formally taught at a higher level.

The End of Herbalism as a Discipline — a Paradigm Shift

After the publication of the Flexner Report in 1910 came the derision and termination of “eclectic medicine” education, (this included herbalism) in the United States, regarding them as equivalent to charlatanism and officially considering them “alternative” medicine. This could be deemed the end of herbal medicine as a discipline, or a paradigm shift towards modern medicine. However, this shift is incomplete and/or being reversed as many diverge back into, or continue to advocate herbal medicine.

Social media, an emerging discipline ?

History of Social Media

The concept of Social Media is eminently new and modern. The first digital Social Media platform is often considered to be Sixdegrees, which was a website founded in 1997 where the users could add each other to platforms and interact. Five years later, in 2002, another website emerged. This was called Friendster and it was a platform to make friends and find potential love interests. It was not until 2004 when Social Media as we know it emerged, with Mark Zuckerberg founding FaceBook. After Zuckerberg’s creation, Social Media boomed. The two following years, YouTube and MySpace was created and both platforms attracted millions of users. After 2010, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Vine, just to mention a few were created and quickly, millions of accounts were set up on the Social Media sites. Today, Social media have grown to become an inalienable part of our lives. A few years ago I would have only called it a very important part of our lives, however today it has completely merged with us, so to speak, and it’s certainly going to continue that way. In a society where social media are omnipresent, it’s legitimate to wonder if they ought to become a discipline.

Social Media as an emerging Discipline

Let’s first focus on the markers of the existence of a discipline. One of the criteria is the growth of a social organization around the subject matter, but obviously social structure is the very essence of social media, so institutions are already in place. The second element is to publish things. But once again, publications are the heart of the matter, so it wouldn’t be hard to meet this criterion.

My biggest focus goes on the career matter. One could think that because in every career there is an essential effort that goes to social media strategies social media can be considered a discipline. But there isn’t an official degree on social media yet. People who are in charge of it generally studied various things such as advertising, business, digital marketing, media etc . Perhaps it’s that we don’t have enough perspective yet. But I think it’s especially because social media are too big, there are too many sub-categories, different uses of it. Are we talking about being able to create it ? To manage it ? To use it ? To export it ? To analyze it ? All of the above ? Ultimately, social media relies on the fact that it’s a reflection of everyone, everywhere, anybody can use it and make anything out of it. If it is such a huge part of our lives, such a success it’s obviously because it’s incredibly diverse, it’s the epitome of freedom. Would it still be social media if we added rules, conditions to be contributing to « the discipline of social media » ?

At the end of the day, social media are definitely going to grow even bigger, yet should they become a discipline ? I think I like better the idea of that sort of social spectrum of freedom that allows us to share anything, anytime, without any conditions or established rules that might take away all interest from the concept.

History of Disciplines: Aristotle and Galileo as pioneers of the study of modern physics

Historical origin of physics as a scholarly discipline

Physics－ one of the earliest disciplines, with foundational roots stretching to Ancient Greece－ is a science that broadly studies “the structure of matter” as well as how foundational components of the universe interconnect with one another. It is also the study of how said components are affected by elemental factors such as “gravitational, electromagnetic and nuclear force fields” , as well as the implications that these have on the state of the universe.

The origin of physics as a school of thought is widely considered to date back to the philosopher Aristotle , whose study of physics is equivalent to what would now be referred to as ‘natural philosophy’ . In the 4th-century, the publication of Physica－ Aristotle’s most seminal collection of academic writings－formed the foundation to Western science and philosophy including, but not limited to, physics. His studies were characterised by an undisciplined, broad understanding of the biological, chemical and physical sciences as one singular philosophy; thus, while he was not a pioneer of physics as a singular academic discipline, his studies laid the groundwork for physics as it is known today.

Emergence of Galilean physics

While Aristotle laid the foundations of modern physics, Galileo’s academics pioneered the formalization of the discipline itself, making revolutionary contributions and advancements to the school of physics. Through his reinvention and building upon of the standards established by Aristotle, regarding concepts such as motion, inertia and astronomical study, Galileo prompted a paradigm shift- a universal overhaul of the Aristotelian systems that had previously “dominated science until the time of Galileo” . Specifically, he unfounded Aristotle’s claim that the speed of an object’s fall correlated to its weight, through his study of aerodynamics that determined that this was not entirely true, as the relationship between the surface area of the object and its resistance to air, was more pivotal to the speed of its fall.

His discoveries aided in the categorization of the sciences into their individual disciplines, forming the basis of modern physics and today , he is considered the ‘father of modern science’ due to his innovative studies, having paved the way for future scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

History of Disciplines: The Short-Lived Paradigm Shift between Historical and New Musicology

Musicology is the field of study and research of music, which differs from composition or performance. While the first forms of musical instruments date about 400—100 BCE (Before the Common Era) and music has been studied, since its discovery, throughout centuries, the term of Musicology was first coined only in 1863, as Musikalische Wissenschaft (German for Science of Music), by Friedrich Chrysander.

The Need for Evolution in the field of Musicology: The Introduction to New Musicology

While music genres have evolved constantly,(50s Rock and Roll evolved into the 60s Psychedelic Rock, 70s Disco evolved into 80s Synth Pop and, today, Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is rooted in the 90s Hip Hop), musicology's evolution remained constant until the mid-80s when professionals realized how the field of study became gradually interdisciplinary, cultural and ideological.

Musicologist first approach was to analyze music historically- in the words of the German musicologist, Heinrich Besseler, from 1931- "What modernity failed to offer was sought and found in history". In the late 70s until the early 90s, there was a great difference between the music analyzed at higher institutions and the music people listened to daily, such as rock music or popular music. Perceiving all forms of music as social constructs, including classical music, implied that music had to be seen both from a cultural and social point of view . Therefore, the novelty of interdisciplinary in a field that has remained faithful to its roots led to a paradigm shift in Musicology, which resulted in the birth of two subdisciplines: New Musicology and Old/Historical Musicology.

The Effects of the Paradigm Shift on Musicology

Although the discrepancy between subdisciplines was short-lived, since many musicologists started adopting an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing musical pieces afterwards, the short-lived paradigm shift had a long-lasting impact on how musicologists approach their work-no longer disregarding new music, in favor of classical-and cast light on the importance of evolution in maintaining the relevance of a well-established discipline.

History of Disciplines: The Emergence of Philosophy and Mathematics as Disciplines

Introduction

As “the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence,” philosophy, and phrased as “the language in which [the universe] is written” by Galileo, mathematics, are both central to our understanding of other disciplines. How and when did it all begin, then?

The Early Beginnings

One could try to take the starting mark of mathematics as the beginning of counting, just as how one could try to take the starting mark of philosophy as the beginning of thinking and questioning. However, that would mark the start of human history, as cognition has always been in our nature regardless of the development level, and a number sense was evident in almost all the cultures that ever lived, according to anthropologists.

The Beginning of the Subject Matter

If the subject matter of philosophy were to be studied, it would have to start at the beginning of history of time. One of the possible starting points of the subject matter of it would be the first philosophical texts recorded in history: those of the early Upanisads on Indian Philosophy, dating to the eighth-sixth centuries BCE. On the other hand, if the subject matter of mathematics were to be studied, it would have to start by looking at the historical evidence including the notches in the shape of tally marks found in animal bones from the Old Stone Age, the knotted cords of of the Incas of Peru, called quipus, the Eyptian hieroglyphic number systems, hieratic numerals, the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, and the Babylonian Cuneiform script.

Thales of Miletus

One way to choose a beginning mark would be to associate it with the first philosopher or the first mathematician: Thales of Miletus. The general consensus of ancient opinion is that he is the first philosopher, as the first of the Seven Sages of Greece; he is also commonly regarded as the first true mathematician, as he is the first to initiate the deductive method of geometry, with his geometrical theorems as valid today as they were around 26 centuries before.

Start of Education

When we look at the history of the education of the disciplines, we would again have to turn to Ancient Greece. Philosophy was taught in three different ways: firstly, in schools that were organized as confraternities most of which were centred in Athens - the Lyceums were passed on by the masters to their successors: such as Plato, Speusippus, Xenocrates, Polemon, Crate, Aristotle, Theophrastus, respectively- secondly, by independent teachers that founded certain cities themselves, such as Epictetus who started a school in Nicopolis and attracted pupils, and finally by “wandering philosophers.” Mathematics, on the other hand, was taught at the “secondary-school stage of education” by teachers of arithmetic and geometry: for instance, at the Diogeneion college in Athens and the gymnasium in Delphi.

First Journals

Another way to mark a starting point would be regarding the first journal published in the discipline as the beginning of it. The first journal of philosophy was the German journal Acta Philosophorum by Christoph August Heumann, published between 1715–1727 and the first journal solely focused on mathematics was the French journal Annales de Mathematiques Pures et Appliquees by J. D. Gergonne, published between 1810-1831.

Conclusion

The vast histories of the disciplines of philosophy and mathematics make it highly challenging to select a specific instant in time as their markers. However, the histories of their subject matters, their first recorded texts, their first founders and teachers, the histories of their ways of teachings, and their first publications can be studied to have a deeper comprehension of the history of the discipline itself.

History of Disciplines: Political sociology and its interdisciplinarity

Origins of Political sociology

Political sociology has often been seen as the study of political science and the study of sociology in a sort of separate way. However, over time now tend to see political sociology as a genuine field of its own. This discipline shows a social and political distinction and confrontation between the societies we live in and the states that control them. E. Allardt in “International Encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences” of 2001 explains that there is “three pathbreaking moments” that can bee seen in the development of the discipline. The author describes the mid-nineteenth century as the moment where political sociology was created “when the distinction between society and state was established”. The second pathbreaking moment took place after the second World war when political sociology really became important mostly because of the importance of the roles played by democracies in the outcome of the global conflict. The third one can be considered as happening in the present as the study of regimes and worldwide development has never been as intense. All aspects of states are inspected, analyzed and are break down.

Political sociology now and its interdisciplinarity

The UCL website concerning the political sociology course explains that this discipline focuses on sociology but in its interdisciplinarity nature . .It shows that political study plays a major role in the study of this discipline as it is mainly about the examination of the relationship between state and society while emphasizing on the importance of identity and the notion of power. However, the website also explains that this course also centers around anthropology, history, cultural studies, and economics. All of this being put in relation in order to analyze and understand “the relationships between individuals, groups, institutions, governments and their environments.” .

History of Disciplines: Oenology and History

Introduction: Oenology and its roots on ancient civilizations

Oenology is the term used to refer to the study of wine and the process of winemaking, from the seed of the wine to the conservation of the bottle. Old paintings, sculptures and other form of art show that wine existed almost 8000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Vines actually even existed before humankind. Winemaking already was a captivating discipline, you can see it by its frequent in ancient art. Wine fascinates also for its mystic connotation, take for example Dyonosos, the God of the vine and wine who also represent madness and excesses. This discipline indeed is as fascinating as dangerous, because of the effects alcool can have on one.

How History And other contexts shaped Winemaking

Oenology has indeed existed since very long, it’s a discipline that doesn’t require modernity since it all comes from nature and a natural process: vinification. The vinification includes destemming, pressing, maceration and fermentation. If wine already existed before, we can say that oenology really appeared when Roman producers started to choose and select wine and grapes , but also variety and lands. It’s also the romans centurions on their campagnes that participated to the expansion of wine, since drinking was a part of doing war.

With the fall of the Roman Empire on the 5th century and the rise of Christianity, monks slowly started to cultivate vines in order to make money and because wine represents the blood of Jesus in Christianism ( again we find the correlation between wine and religion ). To this day, French monasteries and abbayes still make wine. At the time, having lands, and especially vines, meant having political influence and economic power. Wine becomes more and more a sign of wealth and power, you can find some of the best wines on the table of the the Pope or the French king. At this point, winemaking already is a considerable source of income for France, and knowing oenology is a sign of refinement and distinction, we think that the job of oenologist actually already existed.

After French Revolution, lands of vines are divided and redistributed among new producers. Indeed Winemaking, and thus, oenology, continues to evolve with the historical, cultural, social or economic context.

Winemaking’s process and analysis really took a turn in the the mid19th-Century with the « pasteurization« (from Louis Pasteur). The pasteurization offered the opportunity to better understand the process of fermentation and the bacterias involved, which was a great chance for winemakers and/or oenologists to progress in their jobs and to improve their profiency.

Oenology and Winemaking Today

Today, oenologist is a full-fledged job since 1955, but the definition and credibility depends on the country. Many of the winemakers are also oenologists, and some even sell their services to clients. Oenology doesn’t concern exclusively the farming process, it Actually also requires a strong knowledge in Biology or Chemistry and among others, a good personal taste appreciation.