I am currently reading
Consilience, the Unity of Knowledge by E.O. Wilson, A.A.Knopf 1998, one of the books from my dad's library that escaped the house fire they had in feb.
He talks about the seemingly inevitable unification of knowledge ...
"Consilience is the key to unification. I prefer this word over "coherence" because its rarity has preserved its precision, whereas coherence as several possible meanings, only one of which is consilience."
...
A balanced perspective cannot be acquired by studying disciplines in pieces but through the pursuit of the consilience among them
... and he feels that universities have abrogated some of their responsibilities to teach general knowledge, including some introduction to sciences, to all students.
He asks this question:
"What is the relation between science and the humanities, and how is it important for human welfare?"
He says every college student should be able to answer this, every politician should be able to answer this, every public thinker should be able to answer this.
So what is your take on the relation between science and humanities and how important it is for human welfare?
Enjoy.
I'll be traveling for the rest of the week, so I won't have much opportunity for input until next week, that should provide some time for people to post their answers without need to dive into debate over various positions.
we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
Rebel American Zen Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.
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