Inter-disciplinary contradictions and the influence of science on policy

Policy conclusions of two or more disciplines often appear to contradict one another, and so cancel out one another's influence on policy. This article investigates the degree to which the contradiction is only apparent, in the sense that the disciplines answer different questions. In many instances the disciplines are complementary; some measure of reconciliation can be obtained by defining more sharply the assumptions and data that lie behind their questions, and hence the theoretical domains over which their answers are valid. By showing that those domains are non-overlapping, disputes can often be understood and opposing views reconciled.For some scholars empathy with the aims and methods of another discipline is possible; for others the advance of their own discipline is too important an objective to allow limiting its applicability. By uncompromising arguments, however, they may harm their own cause. For when different disciplines publicly press for opposite policies they weaken the credibility and influence of science in all fields, including their own.