disciplinesnatural

Disciplinesnatural is a term used in discussions of knowledge organization to describe a proposed grouping of disciplines that study the natural world. It is not an established, universally accepted category in most academic taxonomies, but it appears in meta-level debates about how to classify fields of study.

In common usage, disciplinesnatural is expected to include the natural sciences—physics, chemistry, biology, and earth sciences—as well as interdisciplinary fields that focus on natural systems, such as environmental science, ecology, and geoscience. Some writers extend it to include certain applied areas that directly interact with nature, while others reserve it for pure natural science domains. The boundaries are not fixed, and authors may redefine the term depending on context.

Relation to other classifications: The term sits between traditional natural sciences and broader categorizations of science in some bibliographic schemes and policy debates. It can be used to contrast natural disciplines with social sciences, humanities, or formal disciplines like mathematics, though the boundaries are contested. The label is more common in discussions about metadata, information architecture, and knowledge taxonomy than in conventional curricula.

Practical use and caveats: Because disciplinesnatural lacks a universal definition, researchers should specify which fields are included and the criteria used. It is most commonly employed in conversations about interdisciplinarity, science policy, or library and information science where consistent classification aids retrieval and analysis. See also natural sciences, science taxonomy, and interdisciplinarity.