Interdisciplinary Introduction: Quantum-Social Approaches Beyond International Studies

The introduction begins by positioning this interdisciplinary venture within the contemporary “research frameworks.” By and large, the current intellectual commitments correspond to philosophical (ontological, epistemological, and methodological) “wagers” of pragmatism, analyticism, and interpretivism as applied in humanities, social sciences as well as international studies. Over the recent years, the gradual growth of “quantum-social approaches” has opened new vistas for knowledge production beyond established academic boundaries. As this book asserts, quantum insights provide promising philosophical avenues for advancing pragmatist projects along conventional and critical modes of inquiry. However, the theoretical surveying of the quantum literature invites enormous challenges for social and international scientists. The challenges could turn more overwhelming for scholars seeking to build bridges across seemingly disparate scientific and theoretical traditions. In that respect, this introduction helps to navigate the quantum-social science literature through practical pathways. Qualitative categorization of “core commitments” captures the main intellectual tendencies with regard to scientific terminology of social and international studies. Taken as a whole, affective, cognitive, discursive, and normative variants of quantal researching would support composite frameworks for theorizing and historicizing world affairs beyond space–time. Relevant spectra of scholarship on international theory and history would be equally informed by implications of quantum-social approaches.