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Sphericules And Fragments: Minding The Gaps, Ted M. Coopman

Ted M. Coopman

Michael McGee exemplified the scholar embracing all tools and ideas, the fragments that make up our existence, in exploring and explaining our world. I argue that bridging the gaps that separate these fragments, or what Gitlin (1989) called sphericules, is the essence of what constitutes public scholarship. Starting from Habermas' (1989) description of the public sphere I explore how interdisciplinarity holds the keys to bridging the gaps between publics. I supported this with a discussion of the history of academe in America and the brief survey of the new infrastructures being built to expand our fields of exploration and the …