Research at the margins, research at the intersection. Photo credit: Elliot Hueske.
It is rarely ever the case that our attitudes are binary or one-dimensional. In fact, life is characterized by the many beliefs, opinions, and preferences that we embrace. Ascribing to one thought or ideology while resisting others is not only nearsighted but can become threatening— rigid self-categorization is constraining, repressive, and inhibitory. Rather it is a feature of behavior and motivation that we are constantly pulled in numerous directions. For example, you might be balancing a dichotomous interest in theatre and economics, or managing commitments to work, family, and school. With shifting workplace, research, and academic environments the opportunity to pursue several interests simultaneously is becoming more feasible. Therefore, it seems intuitive that interdisciplinary research is becoming the new norm. However, from my own experiences I recognize that there is still significant ground to cover before interdisciplinary projects acquire the same status and accessibility as standard research approaches.
I study philosophy and psychology which have significant and relevant interactions. Psychology originated from the concepts and inquiries that philosophers introduced, namely regarding concerns of the human mind and how it relates to living in social collectives. For example, both psychologists and philosophers are concerned with interactions, behavior, decision-making, memory, learning, emotion, and perception among other cognitive processes. Moreover, resonances of philosophical influence on psychology are still apparent in empirical research as psychologists appropriate philosophical terminology. For example, “moral reasoning,” “normativity,” “belief,” “knowledge,” “free will,” “ethical responsibility.” Psychology provides important insight through empirical observation which is incredibly challenging to realize in philosophy. However, there still seems to be a general resistance on the side of psychology to recognize the conceptual history of the terms that they are using. Without considering a philosophical contextualization, it becomes very easy for psychologists to make broad statements with overgeneralized implications that threaten to disband, dissolve, or deemphasize philosophical ideas. Nonetheless, philosophy exhibits a similar hesitancy to embrace the findings of psychology as empirical approaches lose clarity in their methods of operationalizing definitions and interpreting data. Therefore, I regard advocating for cross-departmental, collaborative, and multifaceted projects to be a very important undertaking. Without this kind of approach, we risk becoming too committed to narrow modes of thinking which prevent fruitful interdisciplinary advances.
I knew that I wanted to pursue research in philosophy and psychology, yet while psychology research as an undergraduate is easily accessible, undergraduate philosophy research is not. This is merely due to the nature and methodology of the research in the discipline which requires a significant level of expertise and familiarity with literature that is usually only achievable at higher graduate levels. Nonetheless, this does not mean that undergraduate intellectual projects in philosophy are inaccessible! I wanted to ensure that I was integrating my disparate interests in one project, but I was uncertain about how to approach it. Although it may initially feel intimidating, the faculty at Columbia want to see their students succeed and are equally (if not more!) enthusiastic about the questions, concerns, and ideas that their students bring to them. Moreover, many professors are very interested in interdisciplinary work even if they are committed to one department. In my experience, I was taking a philosophy course and my professor introduced a similarity between contemporary cognitive neuroscience and ancient ethics. I was immediately excited about this connection and knew that I wanted to pursue it further. I am incredibly grateful to say that I reached out to this professor, and they were more than willing to provide guidance for my research over the summer.
Thus, I would recommend reaching out to a professor who you know might already be thinking about similar interdisciplinary ideas as you. It is extraordinarily important to have the advice and support from someone who is knowledgeable in your area of study. If it is interdisciplinary, then I would recommend reaching out to faculty members in other departments to schedule meetings and speak to them regarding specific components or premises of your research. This allows for highly specialized and focused research that incorporates the expertise of many people from various backgrounds.
To conclude, I want to recognize how immensely appreciative and grateful I feel to have had an opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary research in this capacity. Not every faculty member has the bandwidth to support additional projects or provide guidance. Understanding this is important and one should keep it in mind when approaching this process. However, this is not meant to discourage you from trying. I have grown so much not only as a student, but as a person (for example with respect to intellectual independence, agency, collaboration) as the result of my interdisciplinary research.