View source for Consilience (book)

{{short description|1998 book by E. O. Wilson}}
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{{context|date=December 2017}}
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{{Infobox book
| name             = Consilience. The unity of knowledge
| image            = File:Consilience, first edition.jpg
| caption          = Cover of the first edition
| author           = [[E. O. Wilson]]
| illustrator      =
| cover_artist     =
| country          = United States
| language         = English
| series           =
| subject          = [[Consilience]]
| publisher        =
| pub_date         = 1998
| english_pub_date =
| media_type       = Print ([[Hardcover]] and [[Paperback]])
| pages            = 332 pp.
| isbn             =  9780679450771
| oclc             =
| dewey            =
| congress         =
| preceded_by      =
| followed_by      =
}}
'''''Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge''''' is a 1998 book by the biologist [[E. O. Wilson]], in which the author discusses methods that have been used to unite the [[science]]s and might in the future unite them with the humanities.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://wtf.tw/ref/wilson.pdf |title=Consilience. The unity of knowledge |last=Wilson |first=Edward |date= |website=wtf.tw |publisher=Vintage Books, Random House, New York |access-date=25 January 2022 |quote=I remember very well the time I was captured by the dream of unified learning. It was in the early fall of 1947, when at eighteen I came up from Mobile to Tuscaloosa to enter my sophomore year at the University of Alabama. A beginning biologist, fired by adolescent enthusiasm but short on theory and vision, I had schooled myself in natural history with field guides carried in a satchel during solitary excursions into the woodlands and along the freshwater streams of my native state.(Beginning of Chapter 1. The Ionian Enchantment.)}}</ref>
Wilson uses the term ''[[consilience]]'' to describe the synthesis of knowledge from different specialized fields of human endeavor.
==Definition of ''consilience''==
This book defines consilience as "Literally a 'jumping together' of knowledge by the linking of facts and fact-based theory across disciplines to create a common groundwork of explanation."<ref>Wilson, ''Consilience'', p. 7.</ref> The word is borrowed from [[William Whewell|Whewell]]'s phrase ''the consilience of inductions'' in his book ''Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences''. Whewell posited that this consilience of inductions occurs when an induction obtained from one class of facts coincides with an induction obtained from a different class. In this way a consilience is a test of the truth of a theory.{{sfn|Jamieson|1998}}
==Examples of consilience discussed by Wilson==
===Chapter 1 The Ionian enchantment===
* The [[Modern synthesis (20th century)|New Synthesis]] of [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]'s theory of evolution with [[genetics]] is an example of unification.
* The conviction that the world has a unified order and can be explained by [[physical law|natural laws]], was dubbed by [[Gerald Holton]] the "Ionian Enchantment".
* [[Thales|Thales of Miletus]] proposed that water is the unifying basis for all material things. This theory that water is fundamental is often cited as the first materialistic theory of a unified view of nature.
* Unification of forces in the [[Grand Unified Theory]] of modern physics.
* [[Albert Einstein]]'s work provides several examples of unification within the field of physics, for example, unification of [[Brownian motion]] with [[atomic theory]].
* Science and religion have a unity of purpose: both want to explain the universe and understand our role in the universe.
===Chapter 2 The great branches of learning===
* [[Environmentalism|Environmental protection]] requires the combining of knowledge from government regulators such as the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]], [[ethics]], [[social science]], [[biology]], and physical sciences like [[chemistry]].
* There is a unity of purpose for [[philosophy]] and science. Philosophers and scientists can work together at the borders between biology, social science and the humanities.
* [[Liberal arts college|Liberal arts education]] can be revitalized by the recognition of the unity of knowledge in [[higher education]].
* [[Public policy (law)|Government policy]] requires unified knowledge from across specialized disciplines in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
===Chapter 3 The Enlightenment ===
* [[The Enlightenment]] is discussed in the context of scientific knowledge applied to human rights and social progress.
* [[Marquis de Condorcet]]'s systematic application of [[mathematics]] in the [[social sciences]].
* [[Francis Bacon]] was an early advocate of data collection and its analysis as the basis of sound knowledge ([[Baconian method]]) in fields that include social science and the humanities.
* [[René Descartes]] believed that the universe is rational and united and that interconnected truths run from physics to biology to [[Ethics|moral]] reasoning. Descartes unified [[geometry]] and [[algebra]] (see: [[Cartesian coordinate system]]).
* [[Isaac Newton]] unified the [[Two New Sciences#The law of falling bodies|Galilei's laws of falling bodies]] with the laws of [[Copernican heliocentrism|Copernicus' planetary motion]] (see: [[law of universal gravitation]]).
* Social science was pioneered by [[Adolphe Quetelet]] and [[Auguste Comte]] who developed the idea of studying behavior with scientific methods.
* Unity of purpose for [[Postmodernism]] and Science. Wilson argues that humanity is driven forward by the tension between those who upon viewing order create disorder and those who upon viewing disorder create order.
===Chapter 4 The natural sciences===
* The [[Atomism|Greek Atomists]] such as [[Leucippus]] and [[Democritus]] are credited with the [[Reductionism|reductionistic]] idea that matter has fundamental components. Scientific investigation of this idea has resulted in unification across the natural sciences. An example is that the molecular structure of [[DNA]] accounts for [[genetics|genetic]] storage in living cells.
* [[Experiment]]al [[Epistemology]]. Wilson provides a modern attempt to unify [[neuroscience]] and epistemology. He proposes it as a method for clarifying the [[Evolution]]ary basis of mismatches between physical [[reality]] and our mental models of reality.
* [[Positivism]] is a method for comparing and unifying knowledge from different disciplines. Priority is given to facts which are generated by experiment and objective observation rather than subjective speculations.
* [[Pragmatism]] is a method for comparing and unifying knowledge from different disciplines. Priority is given to methods and techniques that can be demonstrated to work and have pragmatic value.
===Chapter 5 Ariadne's thread===
* Reduction versus synthesis. Many examples are given comparing consilience by reduction (dissection of a phenomenon into its components) and consilience by synthesis (predicting higher-order phenomena from more basic physical principles). One specific example is Wilson's own work on the [[Pheromone|chemical signals]] that regulate [[Eusociality|insect social behavior]].
* An example of consilience by reduction is Wilson's attempt to account for the prevalence of [[Serpent (symbolism)|serpent symbols]] in human cultures. He incorporates the activation-synthesis model of [[dream]]ing.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hobson |first1=JA |last2=McCarley |first2=RW |title=The brain as a dream state generator: an activation-synthesis hypothesis of the dream process |journal=American Journal of Psychiatry |date=December 1977 |volume=134 |issue=12 |pages=1335–1348 |doi=10.1176/ajp.134.12.1335 |pmid=21570 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stickgold |first1=Robert |title=Finding the Stuff that Dreams are Made Of |journal=The Scientific World Journal |date=2001 |volume=1 |pages=211–212 |doi=10.1100/tsw.2001.38 |pmid=12805675 |pmc=6084183 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
* Consilience between biology disciplines. Wilson discusses the successes ([[cell (biology)|cell]]s explained in terms of their [[chemical]] components, [[Developmental biology|embryo]] development in terms of interactions between the cells of an embryo) but also points to the remaining problem of dealing with [[complex systems]] as in [[neuroscience]] and [[ecology]].
* [[Statistical mechanics]]. A classical example in which the behavior of volumes of gas is explained in terms of the molecules of the gas ([[Kinetic theory of gases|kinetic theory]]).
* [[Quantum chemistry]], the reduction of chemical properties by quantum mechanical calculations.
===Chapter 6 The mind===
* Explaining [[consciousness]] and [[emotion]] in terms of brain activity. Wilson describes the neurobiological approach to accounting for consciousness and emotion in terms of brain physiology and how this effort is guided by collaboration between biologists, psychologists and philosophers.
* Neurobiology of [[aesthetics]]. Wilson proposes that it will be possible to construct a neurobiological understanding of subjective experiences that are shared and explored by [[art]]. Common neural patterns of activity will be found to correspond to fundamental aesthetic experiences.
* Artificial [[emotion]]. Wilson proposes that human-like artificial intelligence will require the engineering of a computational apparatus for processing an array of rich sensory inputs and the capacity to learn from those inputs in the way that children can learn. Requires consilience between biology, psychology and computer science.
===Chapter 7 From genes to culture===
* The relationship between [[gene]]s and [[culture]]. Wilson posits that the basic element of culture is the [[meme]]. When a meme exists in a brain it has the form of a neuronal network that allows the meme to function within semantic [[memory]]. The link from genes to culture is that our genes shape our brains (in cooperation with the environment) and our brains allow us to work with memes as the basic units of culture.
===Chapter 8 - 12 ===
The remaining chapters are titled Chapter 8 The fitness of human nature, Chapter 9 The social sciences, Chapter 10 The arts and their interpretation, Chapter 11 Ethics and religion, Chapter 12 To what end?
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===Chapter 9 The social sciences===
===Chapter 10 The arts and their interpretation===
===Chapter 11 Ethics and religion===
===Chapter 12 To what end?===
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==See also==
* [[Wendell Berry]] wrote a comprehensive critique of ''Consilience'' in his essay ''Life is a Miracle''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.communio-icr.com/files/berry27-1pdf.pdf|title=Life is a Miracle|last=Berry |first=Wendell|access-date=19 January 2023}}</ref> in his book with the same title.
* [[Philosophy of science]]
* ''[[The Two Cultures]]'' by [[C. P. Snow]]
* ''[[The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox]]'' by [[Stephen Jay Gould]]
==External links==
* {{cite web |url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/95/Consilience |title=Consilience. Toni Vogel Carey on discovering interconnections. |last=Vogel Carey |first=Toni |date= 2013 |website=philosophynow.org |publisher=Philosophy now. A magazine of ideas, issue 95 |access-date=25 January 2022 |quote=Consilience’ is an important term in philosophy of science, one with a distinguished history; yet you may never have heard of it. The late Stephen Jay Gould bemoaned the fact that this “lovely and deserving term… never caught on in the ‘natural selection’ of English vocabulary”...}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
===Reviews===
* [[Niles Eldredge|Eldredge, Niles]] and [[Stephen Jay Gould]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20070126144638/www.stephenjaygould.org/reviews/consilience.html "Biology Rules. Review of E.0. Wilson's Consilience, with a supplemented introduction by Richard Morris."]. Archive.org 2007 for Stephen Jay Gould Archive.
* {{cite journal |last1=Fodor |first1=Jerry |title=Look! |journal=London Review of Books |date=29 October 1998 |volume=20 |issue=21 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v20/n21/jerry-fodor/look }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Gillispie |first1=Charles C. |title=E. O. Wilson's Consilience: A Noble, Unifying Vision, Grandly Expressed |journal=American Scientist |date=1998 |volume=86 |issue=3 |pages=280–283 |jstor=27857028 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Henriques |first1=Gregg R. |title=Special Section: The Problem of Psychology and the Integration of Human Knowledge: Contrasting Wilson's Consilience with the Tree of Knowledge System |journal=Theory & Psychology |date=December 2008 |volume=18 |issue=6 |pages=731–755 |doi=10.1177/0959354308097255 |s2cid=144152672 }}
* {{cite journal |id={{Gale|A53435955}} |last1=Jamieson |first1=Dale |title=Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge |journal=Issues in Science and Technology |date=22 September 1998 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=90–92 |url=http://www.issues.org/15.1/jamies.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217155400/http://www.issues.org/15.1/jamies.htm |archive-date=17 December 2005 }}
* {{cite news |last1=McGuire |first1=Ron |title=Consilience |url=http://www.cnn.com/books/reviews/9804/15/ |work=CNN - Books: Review |date=15 April 1998 }}
* {{cite news |last1=Orr |first1=H. Allen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001230010/http://www.bostonreview.net/BR23.5/orr.html |url=http://www.bostonreview.net/BR23.5/orr.html |archive-date=1 October 2006 |title=The Big Picture |work=[[Boston Review]] |date=1998 }}
[[Category:1998 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:American non-fiction books]]
[[Category:English-language books]]
[[Category:Science books]]
[[Category:Science studies]]
[[Category:Works by E. O. Wilson]]