Comments on: Consilience http://historiarum.org/2007/09/04/consilience/ Thoughts on Digital Media and History Sat, 15 Dec 2007 00:02:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Chris King http://historiarum.org/2007/09/04/consilience/comment-page-1/#comment-3680 Chris King Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:58:08 +0000 http://historiarum.org/2007/09/04/consilience/#comment-3680 Ken — I <i>highly</i> recommend reading Edward O. Wilson's <i>Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge</i> if you'd like to know more about the word. It would be hard for me to name a book that has had a bigger impact on me. Wilson talks about how the physical sciences have gone just about a granular as is possible and are now realizing that the answers do not line in laser-thin silos, but exist as cross-discipline syntheses. That, and he writes one of the best overviews of the history of western science that I have read. I can honestly say that the book finally pushed me off the fence and got me into grad school. It's also the reason I want to concentrate on World History. I think that's the field where consilience has a chance to take root in our discipline. Ken — I highly recommend reading Edward O. Wilson’s Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge if you’d like to know more about the word. It would be hard for me to name a book that has had a bigger impact on me. Wilson talks about how the physical sciences have gone just about a granular as is possible and are now realizing that the answers do not line in laser-thin silos, but exist as cross-discipline syntheses. That, and he writes one of the best overviews of the history of western science that I have read.

I can honestly say that the book finally pushed me off the fence and got me into grad school. It’s also the reason I want to concentrate on World History. I think that’s the field where consilience has a chance to take root in our discipline.

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