Well, Dennis, as a man of facts, you will know that those
who sort and classify information, and ensure it's in the right pigeon-hole,
are important to a discipline, otherwise the business of indexing, archiving
and retrieving is impossible. In my own profession (medicine) I profess
short shrift for those who make a task out of classifying things
(specialties, diseases, whatever) but we are lost unless somebody does it,
and it behoves all of us in any discipline to take some interest in the
matter, and exchange views about such minutiae from time to time.
Disciplinary boundaries must also be crossable for us all (and I am sure we
all agree about that) so long as we be aware that there is a boundary,
albeit vague. Otherwise we would not perceive when somebody else may have a
solution, or a different angle, perhaps better than the one we are convinced
is correct. Specialism is the bane of all disciplines, and also their glory.
Nick Hudd (Essex Man)
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