Abstract

As every human society has developed its own ways of knowing nature in order to survive, human science professionals may benefit from giving serious consideration to epistemologies that lie outside the a priori of scientific research. Cross cultural engagement (CCE) describes a practice wherein scientists step outside of their habituated “mental models” to temporarily inhabit very different worldview orientations. This practice can offer scientists different epistemic frameworks through which to view issues and gain perspective not afforded by more typical forms of scientific inquiry. First, it moderates the impulse to exclusively consider strange ideas discordant with professional training through the intellectual infrastructure (presuppositions, foundational assumptions) of one’s scientific discipline. Such ideas may gain coherence when considered from within the cultural context of their origin. Second, the practice of CCE can reveal aspects of disciplinary intellectual infrastructure that are implicitly taken for granted among professionals, directing attention to tenants seldom discussed in contemporary professional discourse. Third, new forms of intercultural inquiry can begin to emerge in a more expansive and symmetric intercultural field where problems can be reframed with deliberate attention devoted to maintaining the integrity of each different form of human knowledge.