Outline of academic disciplines
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An academic discipline, or field of study, is a branch of knowledge which is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitioners belong.
Fields of study usually have several sub-disciplines or branches, and the distinguishing lines between these are often both arbitrary and ambiguous.
Overview
The University of Paris in 1231 consisted of four faculties: Theology, Medicine, Canon Law and Arts.[1] Most academic disciplines have their roots in the mid- to late-19th century secularization of universities, when the traditional curricula were supplemented with non-classical languages and literatures, social sciences such as political science, economics and public administration, and natural science and technology disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering.
In the early 20th century, new disciplines such as education, sociology, and psychology were added. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was an explosion of new disciplines focusing on specific themes, such as media studies, women's studies, and black studies. Many disciplines designed as preparation for careers and professions, such as nursing, hospitality management, and corrections, also emerged in the universities. Finally, interdisciplinary scientific fields such as biochemistry and geophysics gained prominence as their contribution to knowledge became widely recognized.
New fields of study are often created through extending the ideas, theories, and methods of more traditional disciplines. For example, Freud created a sub-field of psychology with his new perspective of psychoanalysis.
There is no consensus on how some academic disciplines should be classified, e.g., whether anthropology and linguistics are social sciences disciplines or humanities disciplines. More generally, the proper criteria for organizing knowledge into disciplines are also open to debate.
An asterisk (*) denotes a field whose academic status is debated.
Humanities
History
- African history
- American history
- Ancient history
- Indian History
- Chinese history
- Diplomatic history
- Ethnohistory
- European history
- History of science and technology
- Military history
- Modern history
- Intellectual history
- Cultural history
- Economic history
- World history
- See also Branches of history
Languages and linguistics
Literature
Performing arts
Philosophy
- See also Branches of philosophy
Religion
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- See also List of religions
Visual arts
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Social sciences
Anthropology
- See also Branches of anthropology
Archaeology
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- See also Branches of archaeology
Area studies
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- See also Branches of area studies
Cultural studies and ethnic studies
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Economics
Gender and sexuality studies
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Geography
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- See also Branches of geography
Political science
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- See also Branches of political science
Psychology
- See also Branches of psychology, Types of psychotherapy
Sociology
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- See also Branches of sociology
Natural sciences
Life sciences
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- See also Branches of life sciences
Chemistry
- Analytical chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Cheminformatics
- Computational chemistry
- Materials science
- Mathematical chemistry
- Quantum chemistry
- Inorganic chemistry
- Organic chemistry
- Physical chemistry
- Theoretical chemistry
- Interface and colloid science
- See also Branches of chemistry
Earth sciences
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- See also Branches of earth sciences
Physics
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- See also Branches of physics
Space sciences
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- See also Branches of astronomy
Formal sciences
Computer sciences
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- See also Branches of computer science and ACM Computing Classification System
Logic
Mathematics
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- See also Branches of mathematics and AMS Mathematics Subject Classification
Statistics
Systems science
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Professions and Applied sciences
Agriculture
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Architecture and design
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Business
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Divinity
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Education
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Engineering
- See also Branches of engineering
Environmental studies and Forestry
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Family and consumer science
Health sciences
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- See also Branches of medicine
Human physical performance and recreation*
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Journalism, mass media and communication
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Law
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Library and museum studies
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Military sciences
Public affairs
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Social work
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Transportation
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Notes
- ^ History of Education, Encyclopædia Britannica (1977, 15th edition), Macropaedia Volume 6, p. 337
See also
- Academia
- Academic genealogy
- Fields of science
- Interdisciplinarity
- Joint Academic Classification of Subjects
- List of education topics
- List of fields of doctoral studies
- List of libraries
- Transdisciplinary studies
External links
- Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP 2000): Developed by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics to provide a taxonomic scheme that will support the accurate tracking, assessment, and reporting of fields of study and program completions activity.
- Complete JACS (Joint Academic Classification of Subjects) from Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in the United Kingdom
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC 2008) (web-page) Chapter 3 and Appendix 1: Fields of research classification.