Interdisciplinarity and its research: The influence of martin heidegger from 'being and time' to 'the question concerning technology'

Abstract

The paper deals with interdisciplinarity by exploring the interaction between philosophy and IS theory and its consequences for developing a research agenda in IS design and implementation. The focus is on the influence of Heidegger on the work of Dreyfus, Winograd and Flores, and Ciborra. To gain a better insight on the German philosopher, comments by Latour and Ihde were also considered. The results show that there are several issues that have been enlightened by the 'interaction' of IS scholars with Heidegger: concepts such as 'un-intentionality', 'pre-understanding', and 'breakdown' of everyday activities - as well as the importance of 'moods' for an effective understanding of user needs - have all been underlined so that exchanges among actors can lead to better design. Thus IS research needs a renewed attention to human resources management of IS experts and users together with the study of how 'decentralized' approaches to IS projects can be promoted. © 2008 Physica-Verlag Heidelberg.