Consilience

That is the title of the book I am currently reading. Its writted by E. O. Wilson a noted Harvard entomolgist and Pulitzer Prize winning Author. Consilience, according to Dr. Wilson, signifies the unity of knowledge from all walks of life. Dr. Wilson's basic premise in this book is that all knowledge (may it be from natural sciences, social sciences or the arts) can be explained within a single framework. In otherwords (to state one fall out of this premise), social sciences can be explained using the physical sciences and vice-versa.

Dr. Wilson argues that the unification of the knowledge between the Physical and Social sciences is the the most important breakthrough waiting to happen. He starts with how consilience had its roots in the French Renaissance (advanced by such people as Marquis De Condorcet) and how far it has come at the end of the 20th century.

While Dr. Wilson makes cogent arguments to support his theory with examples from evolution, genetic and culture, I feel that sometimes the book loses track of how these concepts tie back to consilience. Granted, that a subject matter as heavy as this warrants repeated readings to make sense. This is especially true for a lay-person like me who is uninitiated in the subjects that Dr. Wilson talks so eruditely about.