Spirituality - a Multifaceted Phenomenon

Kees WAAIJMAN
2007 Studies in Spirituality  
This article reflects on the various ways spirituality is studied in academic setting. The author describes and analyses what happens in twelve disciplines: . On the basis of this description and analysis, the author discovered patterns of interdisciplanrity. This could be a first step for futher interdisciplinary explorations in the field of spirituality. We consider epistemology as a branch of philosophy reflecting (1) on the structure of disciplines and their relatedness to other
more » ... (2) on the theoretical implications of disciplines, particularly the nature of knowledge; (3) on their connections with practices and professions. 1. Regarding the disciplines itself, they are part of academic institutions, with a specific history (specialisation, fusion, crossing boundaries, new inventions or developments) and forms of organisation (academies, universities, institutes, laboratories, departments, societies, journals etc.); they define their fields of research and develop their methodologies (theory building, strategies of veri-and falsification, styles of argumentation, methods and techniques, etc.); and are mostly a consortium of subdisciplines, organized in a network of reciprocal relations. These networks unfold the interdisciplinarity of a discipline: the various ways in which a discipline is interrelated with other disciplines. We know different forms of interdisciplinarity: problem based research (teamwork in medicines), crossing boundaries (performance studies), fusion (neurophysics), new inventions (computer sciences), and so forth. All these different processes move on a continuum from multidisciplinarity (experts study the same subject but each of them in terms of his own specific discipline) to interdisciplinarity (findings of various disciplines are integrated). 1 Sometimes a discipline, studied separately in different disciplines, is evolving in the direction of an interdiscipline (genderstudies). Here interdisciplinarity itself is shaping the discipline. 2. Disciplines are driven by meta-disciplinary theories. Modern sciences are driven by the construction of meta-stories, postmodern approaches seem to be led by deconstruction. Some disciplines are based on a strong distinction between subject and object (empirism), whereas phenomenological research is driven by subject-implication. Idealism is more working by deductic logic, where realism stresses induction. There are 'cultural' differences between humanities and sciences. All these examples evoke the theoretical dimension permeating disciplines. Particularly important are questions about the nature of human knowledge, its limits, the validity of its claims, the relation between knowledge and belief, concepts and perception, the role of language, brain structure, socio-cultural setting, and so forth. The answers (mostly implicit) influence the epistemological processes of defining, selecting and interpreting. 3. Every discipline is, in one way or another, society driven. It is connected with practices and professions. Psychology is related with psychotherapy, sociology with its practioners, medicines with health care and pharmacy, natural sciences 1 J. Thompson Klein, Interdisciplinarity, Detroit 1990; Id., Crossing boundaries: Knowledge, disciplinarities and interdisciplinarities, Charlottesville 1996; J. Moran, Interdisciplinarity, New York 2002; H. Häring, Wat geen oog heeft gezien: Over zin en taak van interdisciplinair onderzoek, Nijmegen 2005. 2 KEES WAAIJMAN 16 For an overview see Waaijman, Spirituality, 662-687. 17 For a structural analysis of this practice see Waaijman, Spirituality, 874-894. See also Sacred is the call: Formation and transformation in spiritual direction programs (Ed. S.M. Buckley), New York 2005. 18 M. Plattig, 'Mystik, mystisch -Ein Modewort oder die Charakterisierung des "Frommen von Morgen" (Karl Rahner)', in:
doi:10.2143/sis.17.0.2024643 fatcat:cvjhmkriqjhytjgenzipme2eay