Consilience

Consilience is the bringing together of facts and theories from many fields of study to create a coherent, unified system of knowledge. Consilience, published in 1998 by Harvard scientist Edward O. Wilson, argues that the grand quest to unite all human thought, begun during the post-Renaissance Enlightenment era, should continue today, centered on the intellectual power of the scientific method. Professor Wilson believes that science is the foremost method of organized thought ever developed, a system that can enhance intellectual work in any field, including the humanities. A consilience of efforts between the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities would greatly expand the power and reach of human knowledge.

Chapter 1, “The Ionian Enchantment,” introduces Wilson as a young man trekking through the fields and woods of his native Alabama, exploring the wildlife and learning how to categorize creatures scientifically. He falls in love with science's unified system of thought and its power to understand nature and the universe. In Chapter 2, “The Great Branches of Learning,” Wilson argues for a coming together of science and the humanities so that the techniques and discoveries of science can contribute to new breakthroughs in philosophy, the arts, ethics, and politics.