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Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge
by Edward O Wilson
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780679450771 |
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
An enormous intellectual adventure. In this groundbreaking new book, the American biologist Edward O. Wilson, considered to be one of the world's greatest living scientists, argues for the fundamental unity of all knowledge and the need to search for consilience--the proof that everything in our world is organized in terms of a small number of fundamental natural laws that comprise the principles underlying every branch of learning. Professor Wilson, the pioneer of sociobiology and biodiversity, now once again breaks out of the conventions of current thinking. He shows how and why our explosive rise in intellectual mastery of the truths of our universe has its roots in the ancient Greek concept of an intrinsic orderliness that governs our cosmos and the human species--a vision that found its apogee in the Age of Enlightenment, then gradually was lost in the increasing fragmentation and specialization of knowledge in the last two centuries. Drawing on the physical sciences and biology, anthropology, psychology, religion, philosophy, and the arts, Professor Wilson shows why the goals of the original Enlightenment are surging back to life, why they are reappearing on the very frontiers of science and humanistic scholarship, and how they are beginning to sketch themselves as the blueprint of our world as it most profoundly, elegantly, and excitingly is.
Book News Annotation:
Edward O. Wilson, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize and pioneer of
sociobiology and biodiversity, argues for the fundamental unity of
all knowledge and the need to search for consilience--the proof that
everything in our world is organized in terms of a small number of
fundamental natural laws that comprise the principles underlying
every branch of learning.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Review:
"An original work of synthesis...a program of unrivalled ambition: to unify all the major branches of knowledge--sociology, economics, the arts and religion--under the banner of science." --The New York Times
Review:
"As elegant in its prose as it is rich in its ideas...a book of immense importance." --Atlanta Journal & Constitution
Review:
"Edward O. Wilson is a hero. . . he has made landmark scientific discoveries and has a writing style to die for. . . . A complex and nuanced argument." --Boston Globe
Review:
"One of the clearest and most dedicated popularizers of science since T. H. Huxley ...Mr. Wilson can do the science and the prose." --Time
Review:
"An excellent book. Wilson provides superb overviews of Western intellectual history and the current state of understanding in many academic disciplines." Slate
Review:
"The Renaissance scholar still lives.... A sensitive, wide-ranging mind discoursing beautifully.... Wilson's buoyant intellectual courage is bracing." --Seattle Weekly
Description:
Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-319) and index.
About the Author
Edward O. Wilson was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1929. He received his B.S. and M.S. in biology from the University of Alabama and, in 1955, his Ph.D. in biology from Harvard, where he has since taught, and where he has received both of its college-wide teaching awards. He is currently Research Professor and Honorary Curator in Entomology of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. He is the author of two Pulitzer Prize-winning books, OOn Human Nature (1978) and The Ants(1990, with Bert Hölldobler), as well as the recipient of many fellowships, honors, and awards, including the 1977 National Medal of Science, the Crafoord Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1990), the International Prize for Biology from Japan (1993), and, for his conservation efforts, the Gold Medal of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (1990) and the Audubon Medal of the National Audubon Society (1995). He is on the Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and the American Museum of Natural History, and gives many lectures throughout the world. He lives in Lexington, Massachusetts with his wife, Irene.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
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john.modra, November 29, 2006 (view all comments by john.modra)
To be frank, I live in australia and i don't have access to this book ,but I like where Wilson is moving -I've read others of his work on that great grabbag on GRIST .
His great contribution to post millenium debate is his clear challenge to recognise , not only the unity of knowledge, but the limits of knowledge. What I will be interested in will be whether he thinks we really know enough to talk confidently about the former when we seem to be nowhere near understanding the latter . As posted on http://graceware.blogspot.com
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780679450771
- Subtitle:
- The Unity of Knowledge
- Author:
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Location:
- New York :
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Philosophy
- Subject:
- Epistemology
- Subject:
- Enlightenment
- Subject:
- Modern - 18th Century
- Subject:
- Philosophy and science
- Subject:
- Order
- Copyright:
- 1998
- Edition Number:
- 1st ed.
- Edition Description:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Series Volume:
- 108-132
- Publication Date:
- March 1998
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Yes
- Pages:
- 352
- Dimensions:
- 9.59x6.65x1.18 in. 1.51 lbs.
