The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox: Mending the Gap Between Science and the Humanities

In his final book and his first full-length original title since Full House in 1996, the eminent paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould offers a surprising and nuanced study of the complex relationship between our two great ways of knowing: science and the humanities, twin realms of knowledge that have been divided against each other for far too long.

To establish his two protagonists, Gould draws from a seventh century b.c. proverb attributed to the Greek soldier-poet Archilochus that said roughly, "The fox devises many strategies; the hedgehog knows one great and effective strategy." While emphatically rejecting any simplistic attempt to assign either science or the humanities to one or the other of these approaches to knowledge, Gould uses this ancient concept to demonstrate that neither strategy can work alone, but that these seeming opposites can be conjoined into a common enterprise of tremendous unity and power.

In building his case, Gould shows why the common assumption of an inescapable conflict between science and the humanities (in which he includes religion) is false, mounts a spirited rebuttal to the ideas that his intellectual rival E. O. Wilson set forth in his book Consilience, and explains why the pursuit of knowledge must always operate upon the bedrock of nature's randomness. The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox is a controversial discourse, rich with facts and observations gathered by one of the most erudite minds of our time.

"The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox blends extensive scholarship with a candid personal tone." Christine Kenneally, The New York Times Book Review

"While this book is a fine read, rich with learning and insight, it has its cryptic, unreadable moments, possibly because Gould's publisher...decided to issue the book largely untampered with except for copyediting changes." Publishers Weekly

"The late paleontologist is in full and eloquent posthumous voice....Gould...clearly has the last word." Kirkus Reviews

"[A] consummate prose stylist who never hesitated to bring his love for literature, art, and baseball to his provocative and illuminating essays." Donna Seaman, Booklist

"As Gould's last book, this will attract his fans' attention, but its impact will likely be limited to a small niche in academe." Library Journal

In his final book and his first full-length original title since Full House in 1996, the eminent paleontologist Gould offers a surprising and nuanced study of the complex relationship between two great ways of knowing: science and the humanities.

In his ?nal book and his ?rst full-length original title since Full House in 1996, the eminent paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould offers a surprising and nuanced study of the complex relationship between our two great ways of knowing: science and the humanities, twin realms of knowledge that have been divided against each other for far too long. In building his case, Gould shows why the common assumption of an inescapable conflict between science and the humanities is false, mounts a spirited rebuttal to the ideas that his intellectual rival E. O. Wilson set forth in his book Consilience, and explains why the pursuit of knowledge must always operate upon the bedrock of natures randomness. The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magisters Pox is a controversial discourse, rich with facts and observations gathered by one of the most erudite minds of our time.

Stephen Jay Gould was one of the most influential evolutionary biologists and acclaimed science essayists of the twentieth century. He died on May 20, 2002, at the age of sixty.

A Note to the Reader
Preface: Introducing the Protagonists 1
I The Rite and Rights of a Separating Spring 9
1 Newton's Light 11
2 Scientific "World-Making" and Critical Braking 21
3 So Noble an Hecatombe: The Weight of Humanism 34
4 The Mandate of Magister Medice: The Threat of Suppression 48
II From Paradoxical Ages of Bacon to Swift Sweetness and Light 67
5 The Dynasty of Dichotomy 69
6 Reintegration in Triumphant Maturity 113
7 Sweetness and Light as Tough and Healing Truth 144
III A Saga of Pluribus and Unum: The Power and Meaning of True Consilience 153
8 The Fusions of Unum and the Benefits of Pluribus 155
9 The False Path of Reductionism and the Consilience of Equal Regard 189
Epilog: A Closing Tale of Addition to Adagia by Erasure of Erasmus 261
Index