This article aims to answer the question what is the nature of the study of public administration? The first section explores the historical development of government, as well as the study of public administration. Upon that basis, I turn in section two to the study of public administration in its contemporary academic setting, as well as show that its status is evaluated differently depending upon narrower and broader definitions of scholarship. In section three, I will discuss how these perspectives determine whether public administration can be regarded as a discipline in the nineteenth century sense, and if not, what the alternative(s) could be. Upon this basis the disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and a-disciplinary modes of operation of, for, and in the study are explored-that is, an exploration of what the study's challenges are when regarded as a disciplinary, as an interdisciplinary, and as an a-disciplinary endeavor. Once that is done, I will briefly outline in section four some of the generally neglected interdependencies among ontological, epistemological, and axiological foundations of the study. Upon this argument, the fifth section is devoted to the question of what the study of public administration is. The concluding section presents a challenge to anyone who seeks to break out of the mold of "puzzle-solving" research and wishes to contribute something of value to the good society.
