From Inter-Disciplinarity Towards Trans-Disciplinarity in Arts and Sciences: Presumptions for the Artistic Research and Doctoral Studies in Arts

Abstract

This paper overviews the development of the notion of trans-disciplinarity in Lithuania and its neighbouring contexts, and makes an attempt to identify its current relation to science and art. The paper analyses the ways in which artistic research, without being a discipline in its own right, can nonetheless both provide a basis for the doctoral studies in arts, and liberate it from the traditions and disciplines of the humanities and other sciences. Furthermore, the paper argues that doctoral studies in arts are inherently transdisciplinary and thus able to accommodate the traditional traits of the doctorate studies in the areas as different as humanities, social sciences, and even natural sciences. Lastly, the paper builds the case for artistic research as both the basis for the doc- toral studies in arts and a unique research paradigm, itself able to produce new research traditions.