Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge Paperback – March 30, 1999

Wilson observes the history of biology. First there was the systemmatic categorization of life forms under Linneus. Then there was the notion of fitness and evolution by Darwin. That this could happen was supported by work on heredity done by Mendeleev. Finally, Watson and Crick developed the structure of DNA. This made it possible to anchor all of biology's observations in the realm of physical sciences. The structures and metabolic processes of cells could be derived from this work. And the functions of organs. And the organization of complex individuals. This alignment, this vision of coherence from the lowest level fundamental laws up through higher and higher levels of complexity, this view that all the highest level processes can ultimately be explained by low level processes is what we understand Wilson to mean by CONSILIENCE.Wilson's has seen how profoundly consilience has altered biological science in his lifetime. And he argues in this book that a lot of other fields of endeavor might be improved by an analogous transformation: psychology, economics, sociology, and the arts. He makes a number of very intersting points.The biggest conceptual problem I have with the book is that Wilson skates around the problems of knowability. He views the world as being ultimately knowable. But those who have a bit of knowledge about quantum physics, turbulent fluid flow, Goedel's incompleteness theorem, or chaos theory understand that many systems that can be described with great accuracy cannot be predicted very well. There's a lot that we cannot know. It's not very clear how consilience's bound's are affected by this limit, for Wilson does not go there.But this is not a problem that should ever keep someone from reading the book. Wilson's knowledge is deep and wide. His reasoning is lucid, his prose articulate. It might be a slight exaggeration to say the book is a steady stream of quotable passages on biology, science, art, knowledge, ethics, religion, and culture; but only a slight one. Almost eighty post-it notes mark the passages in my own copy that I find worthy of quotation. And I'm a very tough critic. This is a monumental book that is mandatory reading for any person who cares about how science might inform any of a host of other human endeavors.There are few areas of human study left untouched by WIlson's analysis. Most of it is hopeful and optimistic; but Wilson airs a number of concerns in the last chapter. Here he talks about the biological future of man and how it is limited by resources. He recounts peaks we have already passed, such as the peak in food production in 1987. He shows how burgeoning populations in the face of limited resources either collapse entirely (the model described by Diamond ) or go through the throes of murderous wars ( the Rwanda model described here) . The final chapter seems to say "Consilience is important. It is crucially important to every field of endeavor. And if we trace population dynamics back to the fundamental laws using ideas from consilience, we will soon discover that this field of study more than any other desparately needs the illuminating effects offered by this approach. Like a pack of hyenas eying a single child on the savannah at dusk, the problems are staring at us. They are undeniable. They will not go away. The longer we turn our back on them, the more desperately we risk losing everything to them."

In this seminal and ambitious book, professor EO Wilson works to show the need and lays the foundation for the integration of the sciences and the humanities -- a principle he calls consilience. Wilson sees the soloed nature of knowledge as an error of modern and postmodern academic institutions. Then this Harvard professor points the way toward a more holistic view. It is gratifying to see this vision come alive in books such as The Happiness Hypothesis and the works of Malcolm Gladwell, as well as many progressive organizations and insitutions.Wilson sees four major areas of study that need to be integrated: (1) Environmental Policy; (2) Ethics; (3) Social Science; (4) Biology. He makes the case for a return to valuing empirical scientific research as a key to this integration, and he sees postmodern relativism as the primary threat. He defines science as " the organized systematic enterprise that gathers knowledge about the world and condense the knowledge into testable laws and principles."He further says "the love of complexity without reductionism makes art; the love of complexity with reductionism makes science;" and additionally, Wilson says "science needs the intuition and metaphorical power of the arts, and the arts need the fresh blood of science." Despite his loathing of postmodern relativism he sees the need for criticism by stating that "new ideas are commonplace, and almost always wrong." Neither is Wilson a blind advocate for science, and he states clearly that new scientific discoveries lead to new challenges. Thus the need for an interplay between art and science.Wilson sees original scientific discovery as a key to progress, and he celebrates researchers who venture out (for the chances of success are always slim). The qualities he sees as necessary for this journey include the possession of great knowledge and the courage to follow obsessive quests. Within this voyage of discovery, Wilson points to the study of complex systems as the most important focus and pressing need.The social sciences are more complex than the physical sciences according to Wilson, and he laments the lack of interaction by these two camps. Then he goes on for a good bit to criticize sociologists, with good reason. Economists also draw his fire for arrogance and overly simplistic models that, for example, considers the natural environment as an "externality" to an economic system. What Wilson does see the need for models that are simple, widely applicable, congruent with other disciplines, and predictive.This review just scratches the surface of the awesome book. Throughout the pages EO Wilson expounds on observations, hypotheses, theories and laws that cover both the sciences and the humanities. And he closes the book with an impassioned plea to work toward solutions to limit the destruction of our natural environment.The principles of consilience are applicable across most organizations and disciplines. In my work as a marketing consultant I see soloed specialties separated by the competition for capital, budgets and status. I hear this familiar lament from colleagues in other disciplines and human endeavors. EO Wilson points the way toward a better, a more consilient, future.Consilience is a watershed book and provocative read. A singular achievement.Outliers: The Story of SuccessThe Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom