| Summary: | The aim of this article is to substantiate the need for modernizing humanitarian knowledge, as well as to analyze some of its issues in relation to sociological science. Based on researching natural, social, and technical science literature, as well as on personal experience in implementing a set of interdisciplinary projects in fields such as urban sociology, studying natural and man-made disasters, social ecology and social movements, the author came to the following conclusions. First of all, the need for an interdisciplinary approach (hereafter — IDA) in humanitarian sciences is dictated by the complex nature of social phenomena. Second — essentially all humanitarian disciplines in one degree or another have been complex since the Renaissance. Society’s gradually growing complexity, together with its intense use of achievements in natural and technical sciences, required developing a complex approach. Third, modern globalization is not a linear process: some societies follow the uniform Anglo-Saxon model, while others strive to protect their cultural specificity and way of life. Fourth — today constructing as a method, theory and practice is becoming a leading force in global dynamics and social practices. An ‘organic’ approach, together with socio-technical constructing, are used ever more commonly. Fifth, the humanitarian understanding of the consequences of technological progress cannot keep up with the pace of local-global transformations. Sixth — the concept of global community as a socio-biotechnical system (SBT-system), its network-structured nature, and its accelerating tempo-rhythms and non-linear manner of development are the theoretical underpinnings for IDA-analysis. Seventh — the global socio-technical world exists in two forms — material and virtual, and their interactions demand a thorough analysis. Eighth — the logic of interdisciplinary research should follow the logic of social space development, while the tempo-rhythms of humanitarian knowledge development should follow the SBT-dynamics. Ninth, a research team oriented towards an IDA, past experience in implementing such a project, the presence of a tightly-knit group of like-minded people, together with the will to create something new, as well as patience and communicability — all of these things are important preconditions for modernizing the humanities.
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